Man on whisky hijack charge

A 23-year-old man has appeared in court charged with hijacking a lorry containing £80,000 worth of whisky.

The lorry was allegedly taken from a service station on the M74 near Lockerbie in March.

Robert Shirley, from Kenyon Close, Kirby, near Liverpool, made a brief appearance in private at Dumfries Sheriff Court.

Mr Shirley made no plea and was remanded in custody.

The hearing followed a joint operation involving police from Dumfries and Galloway and Merseyside.

Mr Shirley was accused of abducting the 43-year-old driver at the Annandale Services at Johnstonebridge while acting with others and robbing him of his lorry and its load of whisky.

It was alleged that the lorry driver had been threatened that he would be shot and was forced to enter his lorry and drive to various locations in England.

The charge also alleged that the driver was detained against his will and transferred to another lorry and was abandoned in a wood near Harrington in West Mercia.

The case was continued.