Stagecoach tycoon charged over alleged human trafficking offences puts Highland castle up for sale

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Stagecoach tycoon Ann Gloag has put her magnificent Highland castle up for sale. Gloag – who grew up in a council house – is seeking offers over £7.5million for Beaufort Castle near Kiltarlity in Inverness-shire.It comes after the millionaire and ­philanthropist was charged earlier this year in connection with human trafficking.

Gloag, 80, founder of the Gloag Foundation, bought Beaufort – ancestral home of the Lovat family – in 1994 for around £1.3million.A new listing, on property website Rightmove, does not name Beaufort directly but describes it is a castle “in the ­Highlands”, offered with 127 acres of woodland.

The 26-bedroom property has six reception rooms and boasts a chapel with an organ. There are also six residential cottages. A spokesman for Gloag confirmed the castle, 11 miles west of Inverness and birthplace of World War II Normandy hero Shimi Lovat, had been advertised but wouldn’t comment further.Gloag and her brother, Brian Souter, founded Stagecoach in the early 80s with two second-hand buses, before growing it into a global transport empire.In January, she was ­questioned at Livingston police station over alleged human trafficking offences, as was her husband David McCleary, 72, stepdaughter Sarah Gloag, 47, and her son-in-law Paul McNeil, 52.

All four were charged but no arrests were made. At the time a spokesman for Gloag said: ‘She strongly disputes the malicious ­allegations made against her, her foundation and members of her family.” The probe continues.