WHEN First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was pictured maskless at a funeral purvey in The Scottish Sun newspaper last week, her supporters were angry that what was an admitted momentary lapse of judgement was featured in a national newspaper.

Some independence supporters even took to social media to criticise the staff and call for a boycott of The Stable Bar and Restaurant in Mortonhall, Edinburgh, where the picture was taken.

The First Minister apologised to the public and the Scottish Parliament and her political opponents accepted it.

Now, The National can reveal the truth: the picture was in fact taken by a customer – “a chancer” in the words of one of the staff who witnessed the incident – and the First Minister had responded “for just a few seconds” to being hailed by three women senior citizens.

Furthermore, the owners who were trolled are in fact ardent independence supporters Iain and Fiona Dempster, both admirers of the First Minister who are currently observing lockdown for both their establishments despite the heavy cost to the business. Iain Dempster told The National of his upset at people going on social media to attack his business and staff and call for their closure – “this has really upset my wife and our staff, especially at this time.”

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Just as we exposed the simple true story of how Boris Johnson’s holiday trip to Applecross in Wester Ross was not leaked to the press by the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford MP, but was the result of good old-fashioned journalistic legwork by a local freelancer, so The National went behind the scenes last week to uncover the truth about what happened.

The incident occurred after the funeral of the greatly respected journalist and civil servant Andrew Slorance at Mortonhall Crematorium on Friday, December 19.

A staff member at The Stable told The National: “Having the First Minister there changed things a good bit. Like everyone else, she came in wearing her face mask, but she was recognised right away.

“She said hello to all the bar staff on her way in. There were 20 people in attendance at the funeral as the rules state, and they were in the function area we call the Saddle Room which is slightly upstairs.

“She spoke to everyone there and eventually sat down and took her mask off and had a cup of tea – not even a half cup, really.

“Then it was mask back on and back down the stairs. She was just about out the door when three lady customers waved and called to her. So, as she usually does, she was nice and went over to speak to them.

“There was nobody near her and nobody on the table next to the ladies and we think what happened is that one or more of the ladies couldn’t hear her properly and for a few seconds she took off her mask to say hello.

“She made a mistake, yes, but she certainly had her mask on going out the door.

“Put it this way, if anybody on the staff had seen her they would have asked her to put the mask back on.

“As it was, everybody has a camera these days and it’s just a case of a chancer using his phone camera.

“We were all upset when the picture appeared, and even more so when people went on Twitter calling for the place to be closed – they clearly did not know who ran the business.”

READ MORE: Police won't take action over Nicola Sturgeon's brief mask breach

The owners, Iain and Fiona Dempster are long-term independence supporters and are angry that a “random customer” caused them and their staff to be trolled on social media.

Iain Dempster said: “A random customer took and presumably sold the photo with no care for the consequences and backlash for a family-run business or its hard-working staff during this horrendous time for hospitality.

“Nicola was a gem as always and spoke to our staff and lots of customers, which must have been hard for her having just come from a funeral, but that’s what we have come to expect of her.

“Yes, she broke the rule but it was only for a few seconds as she was going out of the door, and she just turned back to say hello to the three ladies. Nobody else was near her and she kept her social distancing.”

The Stable Bar and Restaurant will reopen when the Scottish Government lifts the current restrictions. “Everyone should do what Nicola Sturgeon is asking,” said Dempster. “It’s the only way we will beat this virus.”