Lord Irvine's son offered bail on gun charges

Alastair Irvine, the troubled 25-year-old son of Lord Irvine of Lairg, the Lord Chancellor, was offered $100,000 (£65,000) bail yesterday in the latest court hearing to follow his arrest in southern California on stalking, vandalism and gun charges.

Mr Irvine has been in custody in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, since his arrest on 24 June. He is accused of hounding a 19-year-old student he met in a tanning salon, making threats and pouring acid on her boyfriend's truck.

The Orange County Superior Court judge, Ronald Krever, agreed to postpone a formal arraignment hearing until Tuesday next week to allow the parties more time to prepare. He had been unable to set bail before yesterday's hearing because of objections from American immigration authorities. Mr Irvine went to Amereica to attend a rehabilitation clinic for a crack cocaine addiction. After attending clinics in the Midwest and San Diego, he settled in Orange County where he met Nicole Healy and her boyfriend, Karel Taska.

Mr Irvine, described by his psychiatrist as emotionally fragile and possibly suicidal, faces five charges, with the threat of up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted. He has previously pleaded not guilty.

Last week Lord Irvine refused to comment on the case at his Scottish holiday retreat on the Kintyre peninsula. A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's Department said Lord Irvine and his wife, Alison, were standing by their son.