As jury retires
Judge tells jurors not to be swayed by sympathy or prejudice
the incident was “certainly not appropriate”. And he said Woman F had received the apology she asked for and had continued to work for him.
“As far as she was concerned thatwastheendofthematter”.
Mr Jackson said: “There may have been inappropriate behaviour, but when they are both fully clothed and they sit up and say goodnight afterwards, how does this become intent to rape? Don’t ask me.”
Mr Jackson said Woman C, the SNP politician who claimed Mr Salmond had placed his hand on her leg during a car journey, had never thought she was a victim of sexual assault but “hey presto” the incident had become a crime on the indictment.
“It’s a really sinister pattern,” he said.
Mr Jackson suggested Woman A, a senior Scottish Government official, had “something devious” about her.
He said she had claimed Mr Salmond ran his hands over her body in an hourglass motion in an Edinburgh nightclub, but when she was interviewed six times by police she never mentioned it.
He said: “This stinks, this absolutely stinks”. He said Woman A was also “fiercely involved” in talking to other complainers.
“There’s something that doesn’t smell right about the whole thing,” he said.
“I don’t know what is going on and I’m not suggesting you can work it out either.
“But I know this, every single complainer that has been brought to this trial is in a political bubble.
“This is a murky, murky world. There is something going on. I can’t prove it but I can smell it, there’s something not right”.
Mr Jackson told the jury he believed in the rule of law nobody was above the law but equally no one was below the law.
He said Mr Salmond was a “Marmite” man but he did not care whether the jurors liked the former First Minister or not. “He is entitled not to be convicted of anything unless there is clear evidence.”
And he concluded: “This has gone far enough, gone on long enough, too long maybe. It’s time, I say to you quite bluntly, bring this to an end.”
After nearly ten days of evidence, the jurors in the Alex Salmond trial were sent out to begin their deliberations just before 2pm yesterday.
Shortly after 4.30pm the nine women and six men let the judge Lady Dorrian know they still had some way to go before they could reach a verdict. They were sent home for the weekend and will resume their task on Monday.
Mr Salmond, 65, denies a total of 13 alleged sexual offences against nine women, who were all either working for the Scottish Government or within the SNP at the time.
The accusations span a period between June 2008 and November 2014 and range from him stroking a civil servant’s hair to trying to rape a former Scottish Government official in Bute House.
Lady Dorrian told jurors they must decide whether the charges had been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
She explained there were three verdicts available – guilty, not guilty and not proven – the latter two both being verdicts of acquittal in the Scottish legal system.
She said: “It’s your judgement that matters, it’s for you alone to decide what is or isn’t important.”
She emphasised that every accused person was presumed to be innocent of any charge against them unless and until the Crown proved they were guilty.
She urged the jury to assess the evidence as it was. “Please do not speculate or guess.”
And she said they should not allow themselves to be swayed by emotional consideration - “sympathies or indeed prejudice”.
Lady Dorrian told the jurors they could also delete parts of the charges if they felt the evidence did not establish these details.
And she said the verdicts can be returned unanimously or by a majority, meaning at least eight of the 15 jurors must agree.