Thread: Sweaty Sock News: Salmond Arrested

Alex Salmond trial: Former First Minister not guilty

Former First Minister Alex Salmond has been found not guilty of a string of serious sex offences including the attempted rape of a colleague in a bedroom in his official residence in Edinburgh.

By Ian Swanson


Monday, 23rd March 2020, 2:57 pm

Updated Monday, 23rd March 2020, 4:05 pm

"The 65-year-old looked visibly relieved as he was found not guilty of 12 charges against nine women at the High Court in Edinburgh. A further charge of sex assault was found not proven.

The verdict followed a ten-day trial presided over by judge Lady Dorrian.

Lady Dorrian had told the jury of eight women and five men they must decide whether the charges had been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The accusations spanned a period between June 2008 and November 2014 and ranged from him stroking a civil servant's hair to trying to rape a former Scottish Government official in Bute House.

Speaking outside court the former First Minister thanked his legal team family, friends and supporters.

He said: “Ladies and gentlemen, just over a year ago when we finished the civil action and judicial review, I said I’d great faith in the court system of Scotland, that faith has been much reinforced today.

“So I would like to start by explaining that faith and thanking the jury for their decision. I’d also like to thank the courts service who’ve been courteous beyond limit over the last two weeks and to the police officers who’ve manned this trial under these extraordinary circumstance.

“Obviously above all, I’d like to thank my friends and family for standing by me over the last two years.

“I’d like to thank my brilliant legal team who are absolutely exceptional. I’d like to thank all of the people who have sent so many messages over the last 18 months or so but particularly in recent days.

“As many of you will know there is certain evidence I would like to have seen led in this trial but for a variety of reasons we weren’t able to do so at some point that information that facts and that evidence will see the light of day but it won’t be this day, and it won’t be this day for a very good reason, and that is whatever nightmare I’ve been in as of these last two years, it is as nothing compared to the nightmare that every single one of us is currently living through.

People are dying, many more are going to die, what we are doing just now and I know you’ve got a job to do but it isn't safe.

"I know it’s your job but it ain’t safe and my strong, strong advice to you is to go home, those who can and are able to, take care of your families and god help us all.

“Thank you very much indeed.”

He said: “Whatever nightmare I have been through over the last two years it is as nothing compared to the situation we are all going through now.

“If you can, go home, take care of your families, God help us all.”

Joanna Cherry was one of the first senior SNP figures to react.

She said : "I am very pleased that Alex Salmond has been acquitted of these charges. Those of us who know him, and indeed many of the thousands of people who have met him over the years, did not recognise the man described in the evidence led for the Crown.

"Some of the evidence that has come to light both in the judicial review and at this trial raise very serious questions over the process that was employed within the Scottish Government to investigate the alleged complaints against Mr Salmond and I am sorry to say some of the evidence also raises serious question marks over how these complaints were handled by the SNP."

She added; “"There should also be an independent inquiry into how the SNP dealt with these allegations and an inquiry into our internal complaints procedure which many members have expressed significant dissatisfaction with."

"It goes without saying that Mr Salmond must be allowed to re-join the party without delay, if that is what he wishes to do, and that his place in the party’s history must be restored to the prominence it deserves."

East Lothian MP and former Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill tweeted: “Delighted for Alex Salmond. Some resignations now required.”

Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said: “As we all know, Scotland is dealing with a much more severe challenge today than this high-profile court case.

“That said, there are now some very serious questions facing the SNP, the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon.

“The court case may be over, but for them this is just the beginning.

“Clearly, there is still a lack of information which needs to be fully interrogated, and the Scottish Parliament inquiry will provide that opportunity.

“This remains a national political scandal with profound questions of integrity for the First Minister and her SNP government.

“However, that opportunity must be deferred for the time being while all our efforts and resources concentrate on Covid-19.”

Alex Salmond trial: Former First Minister not guilty | Edinburgh News

Scotland has spoken.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

From a bitter, drunk russian stooge?

Not even worth reading.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold."

"It was a rhetorical device trying to drive home to people the crucial importance of Geoff Aberdein’s evidence, which proves that Sturgeon knew of the allegations not days but at least three weeks before she knew, and that she knowingly lied to parliament. Sturgeon compounded that lie by a further lie to parliament. When knowledge of Geoff Aberdein’s meeting with her on 29 March 2018 in Holyrood became public, Sturgeon tried to cover up by a now really elaborate lie about how that meeting was spontaneous after he had just called into parliament to meet somebody else. In fact Aberdein’s testimony – with witnesses cited – shows the meeting with Sturgeon was pre-arranged weeks before, specifically to discuss the allegations against Salmond.

So what lie will Nicola now use at the committee on Wednesday? The only lie I can see available to her is that her Chief of Staff knew of the allegations for weeks without telling her, and even set up meetings for Sturgeon to discuss the allegations, without telling Sturgeon about the allegations. That would be a lie, and it seems to me so wildly improbable that I don’t see how even such despicable creatures as Alasdair Allan and Maureen Watt could possibly claim to believe it.

The Sunday Times now has the Aberdein evidence and has fairly grasped its significance.

This is a classic example of mainstream media catching up with a major story which I broke, in detail, a year ago.

Craig Murray - Historian, Former Ambassador, Human Rights Activist

Sturgeon team ‘knew of claims weeks earlier’
New evidence piles pressure on SNP leader

Sunday February 28 2021, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Times

"Unpublished evidence lodged with an inquiry into the Alex Salmond affair has raised fresh concerns that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon misled parliament in breach of the ministerial code.

It indicates that Sturgeon’s team was aware of harassment complaints against her former boss and closest friend several weeks before she told parliament she first became aware of them.

The material from Salmond’s former chief of staff Geoff Aberdein also supports claims made by the former first minister that Sturgeon’s administration leaked the identity of one of the women complaining about him - claims Sturgeon rejected last week.

Labour has said that such an identification would represent an “extraordinary breach of confidentiality” and a “fundamental breakdown of trust”. The Scottish government’s complaints policy stresses “the importance of dealing with issues confidentially, especially those of a more sensitive nature”.

Knowingly misleading parliament is a breach of the ministerial code that should lead to resignation.

The Sunday Times has been given details of Aberdein’s evidence to the Scottish parliamentary committee investigating the SNP government’s unlawful handling of complaints against Salmond who testified on Friday. Sturgeon is due to appear before the inquiry on Wednesday.

It comes after a judge, in a judicial inquiry brought by Salmond, ruled the complaints procedures “tainted by apparent bias” in 2019 - with taxpayers ordered to pay Salmond’s £512,250 legal costs in addition to footing a £118,523 government bill on external legal fees.

Salmond was subsequently cleared of sexually assaulting nine women while he was Scotland’s first minister in a trial last year.

Sturgeon claimed on a number of occasions — including in evidence to parliament in 2019 — that she learnt of women’s complaints from Salmond himself, during a meeting in her Glasgow home on April 2, 2018.

Then, in an inquiry submission released last October, Sturgeon accepted she actually met Aberdein about the matter in her office four days earlier, on March 29, 2018. She said she had “forgotten” about it, describing it as a “fleeting, opportunistic meeting”. Details of these meetings were not officially recorded.

Aberdein’s evidence, which heaps pressure on Sturgeon, has been shared with members of the Holyrood committee investigating the handling of complaints against Salmond but not published on legal grounds. It indicates Sturgeon’s team was aware of allegations at least as far back as early March and that the identity of a complainant was passed to him who then conveyed it to Salmond.

This was around the time Salmond was notified by the Scottish government that it had launched an investigation into accusations against him. Aberdein helped broker talks about the complaints between the SNP leader and her predecessor.

During his appearance at the inquiry on Friday, Salmond was asked if he knew whether the name of a complainant was shared during a meeting with Aberdein, as a precursor to the meeting between Salmond and Sturgeon.

Salmond replied: “Yes,” saying he was told that by his former chief of staff, and that others knew it to be true. The committee is writing to Aberdein and others he spoke to at the time to confirm their recollections of his conversations.

Salmond has accused Sturgeon of breaching four parts of the code, including by misleading parliament, failing to record details of their talks and failing to notify the civil service about the discussions in good time.

She is also accused of breaking the code by failing to act on legal warnings that an expensive legal battle against Salmond about the flawed complaints process was doomed to fail.

On Thursday, when pressed in parliament on whether the name of one of the women involved had been passed on, Sturgeon said: “To the very best of my knowledge I do not think that happened.”

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, a member of the parliamentary committee, said: “In any other employment situation, if a complainant’s name was leaked, it would be a matter of gross misconduct. This would be a most extraordinary breach of confidentiality.

“The first minister has questions to answer about that period between early March and March 29. It is evident that Nicola’s 29th March meeting with Geoff Aberdein was pre-planned in the full knowledge that it was about complaints and it was neither chance nor opportunistic as we’ve been told.”

Fellow committee member Murdo Fraser added: “It is now clear in evidence given to the committee that Nicola Sturgeon was aware of complaints against Mr Salmond before the date she claims she first heard.”

The Scottish government was approached for comment. Aberdein did not comment.

Meanwhile, informed SNP sources predict Leslie Evans, the head of Scotland’s civil service, will be ousted over her role in the Salmond affair. SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, Sturgeon’s husband, and her chief of staff Liz Lloyd are also tipped to move."

Sturgeon team ‘knew of claims weeks earlier’ | The Sunday Times