Crime writer Ann Cleeves' missing laptop mystery solved

Crime writer Ann Cleeves has said the laptop she lost during a heavy snowstorm in Shetland has been found.

It contained the draft of half her next novel, though she had backed up a copy.

The novelist, whose books have been adapted into the television series Shetland, believes it fell out of her bag as she made her way through Lerwick in wintry conditions on Monday.

It was later found by a “sharp-eyed” pupil as they were getting off the school bus.

Ms Cleeves tweeted a picture of the recovered but battered laptop, which she said had been run over.

Earlier this week she told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland show she had offered a reward for its return.

“People have been amazingly kind, I’ve been getting responses from all over Lerwick,” she said.

“But luckily my latest book that I’ve been working on, I had sent it as an email attachment to myself just a couple of days ago so I’ve not lost too much.”

Bracing winds and heavy snow left thousands without power on Shetland for days.

While engineers have braved difficult conditions to reconnect properties, 2,400 were still without supply late on Thursday.

The wintry weather in north east Scotland led to more than 100 schools being closed in Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Highlands, while many roads were badly affected by snow drift.

Speaking about the conditions on Shetland, Ms Cleeves said the islands had “pulled together brilliantly to get roads cleared and workers home”.