Our emotions are complex. They reflect the delicate balance between the head and the heart, how we manage our reactions to the everyday trials and tribulations of being human.

Watching Peter Murrell’s appearance in court for the reading of the rap sheet and description of how he conducted his sleekit embezzlement, my emotions were conflicted.

The whole affair from start to finish has provoked anger and pity for different people at different times.

Not so long ago Murrell was pictured in the Royal Box at Wimbledon wearing a pair of Montblanc cufflinks we now believe were bought with SNP funds.

On Tuesday, he appeared in a box of a very different kind – the dock of the High Court in Edinburgh – wearing the type of cufflinks that manacled him to a court officer.

What a profound and complete fall from grace.

My first reaction as he shuffled forwards in handcuffs was a flush of anger. How dare he? How dare he betray everyone and everything he supposedly held dear?

But as the camera framed a close-up of Murrell flanked by court guards, my emotion morphed from anger to pity.

It was due in part to recognising a peculiar facial mannerism of Murrell: when he is under pressure, he continually puckers........

© The Courier