Dalbeattie woman cleared of £1.75m tax evasion charge
A Dalbeattie woman has been cleared of being involved in evading tax and national insurance payments totalling nearly £1.75m.
Susan Maxwell, 49, was charged with her husband Stephen, 52, of forming a fraudulent scheme to avoid paying the contributions.
She was acquitted at the end of the Crown case in the fifth week of a trial at Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court.
The trial against her husband, who denies the charges, continues.
Ms Maxwell's acquittal came after nearly 40 witnesses had given evidence in the case.
Her husband is still on trial accused of retaining the cash for his own use and as a result being able to buy Barncailzie Hall near Springholm and the Crown Hotel at Kirkpatrick Durham, through companies owned and controlled by him.
The charges relate to a period between April 1993 and May 2008.