Man who tweeted women’s names who gave evidence is sent to prison

A man who tweeted the names of women who gave evidence against former first minister Alex Salmond at his trial has been jailed for six months.

Clive Thomson, 52, carried out a “blatant and deliberate” breach of a contempt of court order banning the identification of the complainers by naming five of them on social media.

The former first minister was cleared of all 13 charges, including sexual assault, indecent assault and attempted rape, following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh last year.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Lady Dorrian said Thomson knew the order had been made but decided to flout it, believing at the time of his second post that he might be safe from proceedings from contempt of court by being abroad.

She said: “You decided to take a calculated risk.

“This was a blatant and deliberate breach of the order, which was likely to cause serious stress and concern to the complainers and interfere with the protection extended to them by the order.”

Lady Dorrian, sitting with Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews, said the court took account of the fact it was a “deliberate, and indeed planned” contempt of court and described it as a “very serious matter.”

In a sentencing statement also published after the hearing, she said: “There are very good reasons why complainers in sexual offence cases are given anonymity.

“One reason for it is that the risk of public knowledge of their identities can operate as a severe deterrent to others against making complaints to the authorities in sexual cases.”

Thomson had previously admitted guilt. Jailing him for six months, Lady Dorrian told him there was no alternative to a custodial sentence.