POLICE officers searching for a 26-year-old woman were taunted by her trying to play "a game", Jedburgh Sheriff Court has been told.

Sarah Scott was missing and told staff at Huntlyburn she wanted help "shooting herself in the head".

Initially she would not answer calls on her mobile when the search began on Saturday, August 17.

She was already on bail with special conditions that she had to disclose her location when requested by police and medical staff.

Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said police eventually got through to her on her mobile phone but she swore at them adding she did not care about others and looked forward to the police looking for her all night.

The fiscal added: "When they asked again where she was, she replied she was miles away from Galashiels. She then asked the police officer where he was and she would tell him if he was hot or cold but they did not want to play her game."

Mr Fraser said the police had been searching for hours tying up officers when they could have been dealing with other matters.

Scott continued to refuse to reveal where she was and officers visited various addresses on where she might have been.

The fiscal said: "Two hours later her vehicle was found outside Galashiels. She was giggling and asked why they had taken so long."

But the police were unable to take her home as she said she would kill herself leaving the police and mental health authorities in a "catch 22 situation" and she was taken into custody.

Scott of Woodstock Avenue, Galashiels, had been on bail after failing to co-operate with the authorities on August 11 when she was found walking in the middle of the A6091 road and ended up assaulting a female officer, and there had also been a previous incident at Glenkinning Woods near Clovenfords on June 24.

During one of the searches 48 hours of police time was used looking for her.

She pleaded guilty to a total of four complaints on breaching bail and wasting police time.

Defence lawyer Ed Hulme said his client had already spent a month in custody.

He explained: "It was in 2014 when she was 21 years old that she came to the court's attention. It is a mystery why she began to offend repeatedly..

"She had an untreatable personality disorder."

The court heard that she had an IQ of 71 - one point above a learning disability.

Mr Hulme said: "When she feels distressed she functions as a young child."

Sheriff Robert Vaughn imposed a Restriction of Liberty Order for the next six months keeping her within her home between the hours of 7pm and 7am.

In addition she was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work over the next nine months and placed on supervision as part of a Community Pay Back order for the next two years.