A woman was incorrectly told by police that her brother was dead.

Emergency services were called to a house in Aberdeen after the body of a man was found.

Police alerted who they believed to be next of kin in Peterhead, his sister, but later found they were not related despite having the same surname.

Officers, who have now traced the man's family, have apologised for the mistake, describing it as "human error".

Chief inspector Neil McDonald said: "During the afternoon of Sunday, September 3, Police Scotland attended the sudden, non-suspicious death of a man in Aberdeen.

"Unfortunately there was only limited information available as to the identity of the deceased and police commenced enquiry to establish details of his next of kin.

"As part of that enquiry, officers attended at an address in Aberdeenshire where they believed the deceased's immediate family resided."

He added: "Unfortunately, it was established that this was not the correct next of kin.

"The error was quickly identified and I have reviewed the circumstances with it appearing to be attributable to human error.

"Whilst I am content that our officers were attempting to identity the next of kin in difficult circumstances, this should not have happened and a supervisor has met the affected family and apologised to them."