Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I FELT I WAS HUNTED
Downed flight MH17 murder trial launched Alex Salmond sex trial hears of attempted rape at Bute House
A WOMAN told a jury how a naked Alex Salmond “pounced” and tried to rape her while he was Scotland’s First Minister.
Salmond, 65, faces 14 charges of sexual offences against 10 women, all of which he denies.
On day one of his trial, “Woman H”, a government official who can’t be named, said she felt “hunted” in the alleged attack at Bute House,
DUTCH judges opened the mass murder trial of fugitives linked to the MH17 disaster.
The families of their 298 victims – including 10 Brits – demanded “the truth be told” following a six-year wait for justice.
Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko are charged with supplying weapons which downed the Boeing 777 as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur his official residence in Edinburgh, in 2014. Salmond tried to kiss her, following her as she tried to leave.
She said: “I started to feel I was being chased. He was blocking me, touching me, kissing me. He kept on July 17, 2014. They did not attend the proceedings near Schiphol airport.
The plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile while flying over Ukrainian territory held by pro-russian rebels.
Barry Sweeney, 57, of Longbenton, North Tyneside, lost his son Liam, 28, as he travelled to watch Newcastle United. He said: “We need assistance from behind the Iron Curtain. That is not going to happen.” asking me to stay over. I was frozen, panicking inside.”
She agreed to stay in separate rooms. She said: “I was close to a room with a lock. That’s what went through my head, I’ll lock the door.” But Salmond followed her inside and “full-on pounced”, stripping her and himself naked.
She said: “I was telling him to stop the whole time. I remember feeling him on top of me. I just did one final push to get him away.”
Salmond is also charged with assaulting her weeks earlier.
The trial continues.