Salmond trial moves into its second week

Former FM denies 14 charges of alleged sexual offences

The trial of former first minister Alex Salmond enters its second week today.

Last week the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard the evidence, led by the Crown, of Salmond’s accusers.

He denies 14 charges of alleged sexual offences against 10 women.

His lawyers have lodged special defences of consent and alibi.

None of the alleged victims can be identified, and have been referred to only as Woman A to K.

The trial, before Lady Dorrian and a jury of nine women and six men, continues today.

Day 1:

Woman H, a former Scottish Government official, was first to take the stand and told the court Salmond tried to rape her at the first minister’s official residence, Bute House, in June 2014.

She said she had gone there to confront him about an earlier incident in which she claimed he groped her.

Lady Dorrian had earlier told the jury: “You will all have your own political views but – whether you agree, disagree or are ambivalent to that of the accused – they can play no part in your deliberations.”

Day 2:

Woman H said it was months before she reported the incidents, saying she was too “scared”. She denied she had been “cheerleaded” by others into eventually speaking out and said she did so to stop others suffering similar experiences.

Under cross-examination she denied fabricating her account of events and having consensual sex with Salmond.

Day 3:

Complainer Woman C took the stand to describe a “surreally awful” February 2011 journey in Salmond’s ministerial car in which he put his hand on her leg while her husband sat in the front with the driver.

Another witness, Woman A, a senior official in the Scottish Government, said she “came to expect” being inappropriately touched and receiving unwanted “sloppy” kisses from Salmond but did not know how to stop it because “he was the most powerful man in the country”.

Woman A denied encouraging other people to make complaints.

Day 4:

The court was told women were stopped from working alone with Salmond in Bute House after an alleged sexual assault.

Woman G said she raised concerns about the alleged incident in 2014 and this led to a change in staffing rules. Day 5:

SNP worker, Woman J, said Salmond impersonated a zombie before sexually assaulting her in Bute House in September 2014, the month of the Scottish independence referendum.

Meanwhile a former civil servant, Woman K, said she felt “mortified” and “demeaned” after Salmond “forcibly” grabbed her buttocks during a photograph in 2014.

“You will all have your own political views but... they can play no part... LADY DORRIAN

Picture: PA. Salmond arrives at the High Court in Edinburgh for the fifth day of his trial.