Salmond cleared of all charges in sex assault trial

Former First Minister Alex Salmond has been acquitted of all charges in his trial for alleged sexual assaults against nine women.

The jury found him not guilty on 12 of the 13 charges of sexual assault, which included one of attempted rape, and not proven on the remaining charge, of assault with intent to rape, all by a majority. A further charge of sexually assaulting another woman had previously been dropped.

The assaults were alleged to have taken place at the First Minister's official residence between June 2008 and November 2014. The complainers included former Scottish government civil servants, an SNP politician and a party worker. Mr Salmond had denied all the charges.

Two of the 15 jurors were discharged before the jury resumed its deliberations today, and the verdicts were returned by the remaining eight women and five men.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Salmond said his faith in the Scottish legal system had been "much reinforced", and thanked his legal team and everyone else who had supported him.

He also stated: "As many of you will know, there is certain evidence I would have liked to have seen led in this trial but for a variety of reasons we were not able to do so.

"At some point, that information, that facts and that evidence will see the light of day."

Joanna Cherry, the SNP’s spokesperson for justice and home affairs at Westminster, called for an inquiry into the handling of the case, both by the Scottish Government and by the SNP.

She said: "As a feminist, lawyer and former specialist sex crimes prosecutor, I fully support the right of all women who make a complaint of a sexual crime to have their complaint properly investigated.

"However, I also support due process and the principle of innocent until proven guilty. 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."