Thread by @BBCPhilipSim

Alex Salmond has arrived at the High Court in Edinburgh for the first day of his trial

Court 3 is currently full of potential jurors, 15 of whom will be selected shortly for the Alex Salmond trial. Should be a fairly straightforward/swift process - forget what you saw on that programme about the OJ trial, Crown and defence won't be striking out swathes of jurors...

The media have been transplanted to a separate room with a video feed of the courtroom, which is also where we expect to be when complainers are giving evidence - court will be cleared of all but a handful of journalists for that evidence (which is a common move in these trials)

I might have jinxed it by saying this would be a fairly swift process. Apologies. Still awaiting Lady Dorrian and indeed Alex Salmond in court. Lawyers pursuing the time honoured tradition of standing about chatting

Alex Salmond has arrived in the court. His trial should be getting underway shortly.

Lady Dorrian has arrived and the case has called. Going to be a quick bit of legal debate before the jury is balloted.

Jury now being balloted. 15 names on bits of paper being picked out of a bowl...

The charges against Alex Salmond are now being read in full to the freshly-balloted jury

Details of the charges currently being read to the jury can be found here - Alex Salmond to stand trial on sex offence charges bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…

Jury informed that Alex Salmond is pleading not guilty, and has lodged special defences of consent on various charges and of alibi on another

Lady Dorrian tells the jury that they must judge the case “on the evidence and nothing else” - there will be short break now where they should ask themselves if they can be impartial, “unprejudiced and unbiased”, and judge the case fairly

To be clear jury aren’t being asked if they’re members of a political party or if they have affiliations of that sort - altho they were asked if they had “strong feelings of support or animosity” for the accused or the women named in the charges, or if they personally know them

We have a jury, and the unselected people whose names didn’t come out of the bowl are leaving the court. Trial proper about to get under way...

Lady Dorrian is briefing the jury, telling them they are “judges not detectives” and shouldn’t go doing their own investigations. They just return a true verdict according to the evidence, not anything they have heard about the accused in the past, and politics is “irrelevant”

Lady Dorrian tells the jury that the burden of proof rests on the Crown throughout proceedings. There are no opening speeches, and the Crown are going to get us started...jurors urged to “pay close attention to the evidence” and take notes for when they consider their verdict

Crown calls their first witness in the case - Woman H. Alex Salmond is accused of sexually assaulting her and attempting to rape her.

A screen has been put up in the courtroom so Woman H won’t see Alex Salmond in the dock - the jury can still see her. Court cleared of the public and most media in an adjoining room watching video feed.

Alex Prentice, leading for the Crown, has Woman H identify herself to the jury. She confirms she worked in politics, as a Scottish government official.

A very short initial sitting - court adjourns for lunch.

And we’re back - jury have reassembled and evidence from Woman H resumes.

Woman H says she has been at Bute House “many times”. There were dinners there “all the time”, and during indyref campaign this would see “high profile supporters of independence” attend so Alex Salmond could put a case to them about them publicly supporting independence.

Woman H says there was an occasion when she was working at Bute House when Alex Salmond touched her. She says this happened in a sitting room next to his study - jury now examining a floor plan of Bute House.

Woman H says “that period of my life was extremely stressful”, in the buildup to the independence referendum. “All I did was work, this was the campaign of a lifetime and the team put their heart and soul into it. It was your every waking breath.”

Woman H says she was doing a “wrap up” session late one night with Mr Salmond, when he was “half cut” after a dinner; he wanted to “crack open” a bottle of wine he had got, she thinks, from the Chinese ambassador, and drink “shots” of it.

Woman H says Mr Salmond wanted to take shots with their arms linked, as it was “good luck”; “It was uncomfortable, I was never comfortable in his private personal space so that felt awkward”. But “he was in a good mood, so that was something to be celebrated.”

Woman H says Alex Salmond was sitting on the floor, and wanted her to sit down with him. He then touched her “inappropriately”, she says. “He was putting his hand down my top and kissing my face and neck and touching my legs.”

“He was just groping me, basically,” says Woman H. “I didn’t ask for any of it to happen.” Did she consent? “I wasn’t asked”. She says Alex Salmond was “laughing”.

Woman H says “It was like I froze inside. I said you’re my boss, you shouldn’t be doing this, and he found it funny and thought it was a challenge.” “Looking back I wish I had got up or decked him one, but it was like I was paralysed.”

Woman H says she was “in shock”. “I knew something had happened and it wasn’t right, and I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible”.

Woman H says she didn’t tell anyone because she was “embarrassed” and felt she had somehow done something wrong - she didn’t want people to think she was “another one of his women”

Moving to second “incident”, Woman H says it was another work event at Bute House where there had been alcohol. A famous actor had been there and they were seeing how he could help “facilitate other people in his peer group” following him in backing independence.

Later that evening Woman H says she was alone at Bute House with Alex Salmond. She says she wanted to speak to him about how the previous encounter wasn’t ok as she had entered a “serious relationship” with someone else. “He was a little bit dismissive.”

Woman H says Alex Salmond came and sat next to her on the sofa. She says he seems to be “buoyed to action” from her saying she had a boyfriend, “like it was a challenge”. He sat by her and pulled her legs over his, she says. She felt “extra vulnerable” as she was wearing a skirt

Woman H says “I an internal kind of panic, like I had frozen”. “He started to try and kiss me and touch my upper body and I just wanted to get away. I was trying to explain to him why this was not ok. I was saying ‘Alex what are you doing, this is daft’.”

Woman H says she was trying to “manage the situation” as she often did with Alex Salmond’s moods; “I thought I could talk him out of it”, but he was laughing and “trying to make banter of it”.

Woman H says she got up and backed away, edging towards the door. “I started to feel at that point I was being chased”. She was trying to get to the door to get out, but “he put his arm out and leaned over me. He’s quite a big guy”.

Woman H says she felt Alex Salmond’s behaviour “had turned a bit and he was titillated by the situation”. She felt like she was trying to “wrestle” him off; “at this point I started to feel scared”. “He wouldn’t stop pursuing me, kissing me, touching me.”

Woman H says there was a “lull” and she ran upstairs to fetch her things. She says Alex Salmond “blocked my exit” from the upstairs room - “he didn’t want me to go. He had his arm over me again and was touching me and kissing me. He kept asking me to stay over.”

Woman H says she wanted to “get away and call someone” for help, but “I was so embarrassed, I felt humiliated and scared”. “I wish in hindsight I’d screamed or kicked him in the nuts but I was just so frozen.”

Woman H says she was “scared of making him angry”; she thought she could say she would stay over in another bedroom, which she thought had a lock, and get Alex Salmond to go upstairs to his own bed. This was “a bit of an escape plan”.

Woman H says she thought she was making progress; Mr Salmond “stepped back” away from her, but he then followed her to the bedroom saying he was sorry and that he just wanted to talk. She says he had brought a bottle of wine from downstairs and wanted to have a drink with her.

Woman H says “he talked to me for a second, then he just full on pounced. He was physically all over me, he was taking me clothes off. It happened so fast.” She was trying to “duck” and “swerve” him - she didn’t want any of this to happen.

Woman H: “I was telling him to stop the whole time. He was taking his clothes off and I didn’t want any of that to happen. I wanted to keep my clothes on but it happened so quickly.”

Woman H says she was trying to put her clothes back on, but she looked up and Alex Salmond was standing over her naked. She says he was aroused, and he climbed onto the bed. She says she was trying to get away.

“I kept saying to him, what are you doing, stop,” says Woman H. “I tried to push him away.” “He was right there in my face”, pressing his body against her, she says. “I felt like I was being hunted.”

Woman H says she made “one final push” and managed to get Alex Salmond off her; she says she was saying “no, no, I’ve got a boyfriend, stop, you’re drunk”. She says he was muttering about her being “stupid”. “I didn’t want any of it to happen.”

Woman H says Alex Salmond fell asleep, and she curled herself into a ball hoping he wouldn’t wake up. She eventually got out into a bathroom next door. “I was in shock for a long time aferwards. I felt humiliated and embarrassed.”

Woman H says she felt like she wanted to “bury” the experience and not think about it. “He had other women and I didn’t want to be considered as that. I was scared of that.”

Court concludes for the day.