09/09/2016 Reporting Scotland

A jury has heard that a man accused of murdering a waiter in Lanarkshire

nearly 18 years ago has already stood trial

The details emerged today during the cross-examination

48 year old Ronnie Coulter denies murdering Surjit Singh Chhokar

in Overtown near Wishaw in November 1998.

From the High Court in Glasgow here's our Home Affairs

For the third day, Elizabeth Bryce has been in the witness box

recording the event of November the 4th 1998. She was the partner of the

Indian waiter Surjit Singh Chhokar, who was stabbed to death outside her

house in Overtown. His family were watching with the jury was told the

man in the book has already been tried for the crime. In fact it's

the third time Elizabeth Bryce has given evidence in a High Court

trial. In March 1999, Ronnie Coulter was tried and acquitted. Now Ronnie

Coulter is back in court accused of the murder of Mr Chhokar for a

second time and stop Elizabeth Bryce was questioned by the defence QC.

She said on the night her partner, who she called Chhokar, died, she

found him out of the flat, bleeding heavily from a chest wound. She then

told police that three men had been involved but only named Andrew

Coulter. PC David Rattray was first on the scene. He said he had taken a

statement from Mr Bryce in the ambulance taking Mr Chhokar grasped.

Constable Rattray said Elizabeth Bryce at only given him the name of

Andrew Calder and if she had told the names of the other two men, she

would have passed on. The trial of Ronnie Coulter here in Glasgow

resumes on Monday. A grieving family is calling

for improvements to mortuaries around the country, after branding

conditions at their local one The widow and daughters of a man

who died in a sailing accident were called to identify his body,

but they say they were shocked at facilities at the mortuary,

which didn't even include a toilet These are the waters of the Murray

coast which claimed the life of keen sailor Frank White in May. The

69-year-old had set off on his boat to spectate on a race series run by

the local club when his boat was overturned. Tragic enough for his

family but when they were asked to come and formally identify his body,

at the mortuary in Elgin, this is what greeted them. What used to

promote like a disused, unkempt outbuilding, and two steps outside,

we were by his body, with very little progression. Just kind of,

are you ready? We think all going to move forward with this, and

actually, you're there, with your loved one right in front of you. In

a statement, NHS Grampian said they had immediately apologised to Mr

White's family and took steps to ensure that what they had

experienced didn't happen again. They are no longer using this

mortuary for family visits. But the family and their MSP are concerned

that there may be other mortuaries in Scotland that provide a similarly

dismal book for grieving families. I think the family who have been

through the river kicks principally to identify the body of a loved one

in mortuary facilities that are wholly inappropriate, below

standards, they want to not have any other family in Scotland go through

that and I agree now is the time to ensure standards of other mortuaries

that and I agree now is the time to in Scotland I checked. The MSP is to

the issue in Hollywood, can mortuaries to be checked to sure

they reach acceptable standards. It felt so wrong, and nobody should

have that lack of dignity and respect, either for the living of

the deceased. And if the position was that there, what was it like

across the rest of Scotland? The Princess Royal has

cancelled her public engagements next week because she is "feeling

unwell", Buckingham Palace has said. Princess Anne, who's 66,

is understood to have had tests at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

on Wednesday. Buckingham Palace said the Queen's

daughter had been suffering from a bad chest infection and had

cancelled her engagements She's been staying at Balmoral,

the Queen's Aberdeenshire residence. Tens of thousands of people

across Scotland are waiting to rent a house from a council

or a housing association. Some are in temporary

accommodation, others living Our local government correspondent

Jamie McIvor has been investigating Tenderness agent she would ever be

homeless. Her marriage broke up and later a serious medical condition

stopped her from working. She is living in a flat until a more

suitable place to rent becomes available. The bottom line was I had

to sell my house, and when you have to do that, you have to do that, you

realise, I can't go and find another job. I'm not well enough to be doing

Y, Z. Living on the ninth floor can be a serious problem for someone who

uses a wheelchair. While temporary accommodation of any sort is far

from ideal. All other positions have been in storage for a year and a

half now. Just now what I'm sitting with is second-hand goods. Stories

like Linda's may challenge misconceptions about who might

become homeless. Across Scotland 30,000 households became homeless

last year. Sleeping rough is just the tip of the iceberg. The vast

majority of homeless people do have a roof over their head. In Aberdeen

almost 5000 households are in temporary accommodation. Who becomes

homeless? Because of them to anybody, that's the resounding

message I want to get across, because we work with a wide

diversity of people. One person this charity is working with is Carol

Ann. Soon she hopes to have a permanent home. Another charity is

giving her accommodation and teaching the new skills, something

that can help self-esteem. I'd like to have my own home but the row they

are doing it, they are preparing new from moving into your own house,

just giving you a house putting you in with no support can be could end

up back to square one. The Scottish Government wants 35,000 new rented

homes within five years but 160,000 are on the waiting list. Of reasons.

Campaigners worry those in temporary accommodation can easily become

A British Airways flight from London to Florida had to divert to Boston

because of a "disruptive" Scots passenger on board.

The flight left London Gatwick yesterday but diverted

to Boston's Logan Airport after the pilot reported

a passenger was intoxicated, and had been abusive

The plane was met by police, who said the man would be summoned

to court for interfering with a flight crew.

Let's get the weekend weather outlook.

What a miserable end to the day it was but the cat that sunset! You

know what they say about red sky at night. Tomorrow, the improved edge.

A few light showers, well broken cloud and some decent spells of

sunshine. Across the UK as a whole, the wet weather we have seen today

is still with us across the the wet weather we have seen today

South-East, down towards the Isle of Wight. West and north, reasonably

dry but we will have the lion's share of the sunshine tomorrow. By

mid-afternoon, plenty of sunshine for most, the chance of one or two

light rain showers but you will be unlucky to catch one. More likely to

catch a shower in the North-West, but nothing quite like the show was

on the wet weather we saw here today, nowhere near as heavy.

Generally dry for the Northern Isles. Showers in the West starting

to Pepper, the rumble of thunder, those likely to last overnight into

Sunday, but for Sunday itself, high-pressure meaning try unsettled

weather -- dry and settled weather. For most of Sunday, dry and bright

but the cloud will build in the West, temperatures similar. Then the

but the cloud will build in the rain arrives later in the day and

certainly overnight. The low pressure system sweeping the way in

Sunday night, bringing a spell of very heavy rain and very high winds.

That is it. Our next update is tomorrow evening. From all of us,

good night.