A Church of Scotland minister has been jailed over a “flagrant, premeditated and sustained” breach of a court order.
Tracy Hart or Tough, formerly of Arbroath, was sent to prison for one year by Sheriff Gregor Murray at Forfar Sheriff Court for contempt of court.
The Church of Scotland will now consider whether or not to take internal disciplinary action against the 42-year-old in light of the sentence.
Details of the court order that was breached cannot be printed for legal reasons.
Defence agent Keith Sim said the contempt of court action had been “hanging over” his client, who now lives in West Lothian, for the past 15 months.
He said: “She has come to court several times believing she may not be able to go home.
“This has had an effect on her mental health and she has had to seek medication from her GP.”
At the sentencing, Mr Sim said the minister had a lot of church commitments and that “the removal of her from undertaking these roles would have a wider consequence for her community in West Lothian”.
He added: “In every other respect she is an upstanding member of the community.”
Sheriff Murray said there could only be one sentence in light of her behaviour.
He told the minister: “Contempt of court is an affront to the authority of the court.
“Your conduct was flagrant, premeditated and sustained and of the most severe variety.
“The criminal justice social work report suggests an alternative to imprisonment is to place you on a community payback order.
“However, having regard to the factors in your case, this is unrealistic.
“There can only be one sentence for a contempt of court as serious as this.
“In your case it is a sentence of imprisonment for 12 months.”
Any disciplinary action arising from the case within the Church of Scotland will be conducted internally according to act three of the General Assembly which governs the conduct of ministers.
A Church of Scotland spokesman said: “We can confirm Mrs Tough has been ordained as a Church of Scotland minister.”