A woman has been cleared of claims she embezzled over £100,000 from a firm owned by former Rangers directors James and Sandy Easdale.

Margaret Kirkwood said she was the happiest she'd ever been in her life when she walked free from Paisley Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

She had denied taking £113,792 from McGill's Bus Service Limited, while employed as a cashier at their depot in Inchinnan between January and June 2013.

And yesterday she was cleared of all wrongdoing and said her "three years of hell" were finally over.

Kirkwood had cried continually throughout the course of the day as jurors came to a decision on her fate following a two-and-a-half week trial.

But her tears turned to joy and she beamed as she was allowed to walk free from the building as a free woman due to a legal technicality.

Earlier in the trial one of the jurors, a male, had to be excused for health reasons, leaving fourteen jurors - seven men and seven women.

On Monday the jury began deliberating before delivering their verdict on Wednesday.

Seven of the jurors found Kirkwood guilty, but seven decided she should be acquitted.

But as they had not come to an absolute majority, Sheriff Tom McCartney told them their decision must be one of an acquittal.

The sheriff explained: "Seven of you have found the accused guilty and seven are in favour of an acquittal.

"There needs to be an absolute majority.

"There is not and therefore the verdict must be one of acquittal.

"It is a matter for you whether it is one of not proven or not guilty."

After further short deliberations the jury came back to tell the sheriff they had found the embezzlement charge against Kirkwood not proven and found her not guilty of a second charge that she had concealed criminal property by putting £6,500 in cash towards the purchase of a Hyundai car.

Sheriff McCartney then told Kirkwood: "You have been acquitted of these charges, you are free to go."

Speaking outside court Kirkwood, of Paisley's Glenburn area, said she was delighted at the verdict.

Through tears of joy she said: "My three years of hell are over.

"I knew I never done it - I was hoping someone would have seen sense.

"I've never been so happy in my life."

Kirkwood was cleared after her solicitor, defence lawyer Judith Hutchison, told the jury the evidence against her "didn't stack up" - and said it had not been proved that money had actually been stolen.

She said they were being asked to consider if Kirkwood was guilty of an offence despite there being important pieces of evidence missing - like CCTV footage from crucial times when cash went missing and was later found, Kirkwood's handwritten notes and receipts from McGill's drivers.

Her trial heard that Kirkwood was undergoing treatment for suspected acute lymphoblastic leukemia - cancer of the white blood cells - at the time she was said to have embezzled the money and had taken several days off sick as a result.

The jury was also told she had cooperated with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport over an investigation into claims McGill's were defrauding the government over free transport for people over 60.

And they heard that Kirkwood, who worked for bus firm Arriva as a cashier for 13 years without any disciplinary action, was suspended by McGill's on June 24, 2013 - the day she was due to become a permanent employee following their takeover of the firm.

Staff members cited to give evidence in the case denied Hutchison's suggestion that Kirkwood had been "set up" over the allegedly missing money.