The news that former Rangers owner Craig Whyte walked free from court on Tuesday was met with a mixture of resignation as well as disgust in the way that the Crown tried the case.

Whyte faced charges of fraud relating to his acquisition of Rangers in May 2011, but after a 31-day trial and 17 witness testimonies at Glasgow High Court, the man once described by the Daily Record’s Keith Jackson as a billionaire with “wealth off the radar” walked free from court after being found not guilty on all charges.

Even before the court case started, the Crown’s case began to unravel when the police seizure of legally privileged documents was thrown out by the Court of Appeal — this was following five of the six initial defendants having the charges levied against them dropped, leaving Craig Whyte to face the music by himself.