In the spring of 1671, William Bannerman, a resident of the parish of St Giles in Elgin, found himself once again the subject of legal scrutiny within the jurisdiction of Moray. On 6 April, William appeared before the authorities to answer for his continued activities, a proceeding recorded under the reference C/EGD/813 and T/LA/1158. The case against him was not his first encounter with the judicial or ecclesiastical powers of the region; legal notes confirm that he had previously been sentenced to banishment for the practice of "charming," though the precise authority that originally imposed this exile remains unstated in the surviving records.
The persistent nature of the accusations suggests that William remained a figure of significant concern to his community in Elgin. Despite his prior banishment, he was brought to trial on that April date in 1671, tasked with accounting for his conduct. While the records do not detail the specific charms attributed to him or the testimonies provided against him, the recurrence of these charges highlights the serious light in which such practices were viewed by the institutions of seventeenth-century Scotland. This final recorded trial serves as a stark testament to the ongoing tension between local practitioners of traditional arts and the prevailing religious and legal standards of the period.