Day three of the Salmond trial about to get under way at the High Court in Edinburgh. One big development overnight - a large bottle of hand sanitiser has been put out in the media room
Woman H is on the witness stand for the third day running; Shelagh McCall to continue cross examination for Alex Salmond’s defence
Shelagh McCall reads out extract from Woman H’s police statement which says others “encouraged me to speak to the police”; she confirms it says this, and says “that’s about right”
Defence asking Woman H if there was really a consensual sexual encounter between her and Alex Salmond, but the previous year; “absolutely not”. “I’ve never been a willing participant in Alex Salmond’s advances towards me and never will be.”
Shelagh McCall asks Woman H if she unbuttoned Alex Salmond’s shirt, undid her trousers, and helped pull his trousers down, in a consensual encounter in 2013; she says “absolutely not”.
Shelagh McCall asks Woman H if there had been a consensual encounter with Alex Salmond, which stopped before they then talked about how they “got carried away” - she says “that’s not true”, she says AS “passed out drunk, exhausted by his attempts to get me to sleep with him”
After a brief re-examination by the Crown where she says “I’m not lying” about being at a dinner, evidence from Woman H is complete. Next witness is not a complainer so the court is being re-opened.
Court hearing from a police inspector who was part of Operation Diem, investigation into Alex Salmond. He conducted Skype interview with a celebrity; video played back in court where celeb says he was at a dinner with the first minister and Woman H
In police interview, celebrity says atmosphere at this Bute House dinner was “jovial, optimistic, friendly”; he says one bottle of wine was shared between four people, “nobody was throwing punches and drunk”. Was anyone under the influence? “Not really, no.”
After a brief morning break, court reconvenes with a fresh witness - a businessman who was at various Bute House dinners. He remembers leaving one with Woman H and others. He says she was “friendly and comfortable” with Alex Salmond.
Court also hears from Yes Scotland staffer who says Woman H never mentioned being at dinner with the celebrity to him.
Next witness is a complainer, Woman A, so court being cleared again. Alex Salmond is accused of indecently assaulting her and sexually assaulting her.
Woman A tells the court she was working for the SNP in 2008 when Alex Salmond’s behaviour caused her concern. He says he would go in as if to kiss her cheek but then give her a “sloppy and kind of unpleasant” kiss on the lips
Woman A also says “at times he would put his hand on my back and move his hands so they were on the side of my chest or on my bum”. “I took the view it was deliberately...there was no need for his hand to be there, it wasn’t something you would have done by accident.”
Did Woman A encourage Alex Salmond to kiss or touch her? “Not at all.” Did she want it to happen? “Absolutely not.” Did she voice disapproval? “I didn’t know how to say ‘don’t do this’ to the first minister, but I would move, I actually began to carry a bag so it was between us”
Why didn’t Woman A tell Alex Salmond to stop? “I liked my job,” she says. “He was the most powerful man in the country....I had experienced volatile mood swings and behaviour from him and it was always easier to move away then risk infuriating or antagonising him.”
Did Woman A tell anyone? “I was embarrassed, I was doing this job which meant a lot to me and him humiliating me on a regular basis was embarrassing. I didn’t want to tell people he was doing this....it would make me look weak.”
Court breaks for lunch
Woman A tells court that Alex Salmond touched her at a party; running his hands down over “the curve of my body” while saying “you look good, you’ve lost weight”. She says she was “kind of internally shocked” and kept her distance from him for the rest of the night
Alex Prentice asks Woman A if she consented to anything Alex Salmond is said to have done to her? “Never”. Did she give a signal of consent? “No”. Prosecution finished with witness, now Gordon Jackson will cross examine
Gordon Jackson says Alex Salmond kissed other people on the lips; “what he did to you was the same he did to members of the public - that’s the sort of man he was”. Woman A says she doesn’t remember seeing Alex Salmond holding other women by the shoulders
Gordon Jackson says “these events such as they were are absolutely nothing, and were not distressing in any way or form”. He says they have “turned into criminality” due to “revisionism because other things happened since”. Woman A says that’s “categorically wrong”
Court having a legal debate - jury have been sent out so we can’t report what’s being said
It was a fairly short debate, by legal standards; Gordon Jackson continues cross examination of Woman A. He’s asking why she didn’t later disclose the alleged incidents; Woman A says she had “put them behind me” and “moved on”
Woman A says “I didn’t want to be drawn into a world where I was dealing with my complaint against Alex Salmond....until the police came to see me I was content not to be part of this.”
On the incident where Woman A says Alex Salmond ran his hands over her and said she had lost weight, Gordon Jackson says “you call that groping?” “Yes,” she replies. He had contended that “nothing happened”; Woman A says “Mr Salmond assaulted me - that’s not nothing”
Gordon Jackson asking about Woman A’s contact with other complainers. She says she contacted others off the back of the Daily Record story, saying she thought it “would be difficult for people to handle”, she wanted to “check they were ok”. She says she also reached out to men.
Gordon Jackson says Woman A was “very much a part of encouraging people to make a complaint, and make things that were trivial, nothing, turned into criminal charges”. Woman A says “I was not encouraging people to make a complaint.”
Next witness is Woman C - an SNP politician. Alex Salmond is accused of sexually assaulting her.
Woman C says she was celebrating after a Holyrood budget vote, at a restaurant. Alex Salmond offered her a lift to Waverley Station in his ministerial car afterwards to catch a train, she says.
Woman C says Alex Salmond put his hand on her leg, above the knee, and kept it there for “a large proportion of the journey”. Did she invite him to do this? “Absolutely not”. She was “embarrassed” and “just hoped it would stop”
Asked why she didn’t say something or call for help, Woman C says “it was so surreally awful that I didn’t want to say anything, I was just really embarrassed by it and presumed he would stop quite soon because it was so not the right thing to do.”
Shelagh McCall cross examining now. She puts it to Woman C that Alex Salmond “says he never touched your leg”. Woman C replies that “I wish it wasn’t the case, so I wouldn’t be here today.”
Shelagh McCall asking Woman C about whether she felt under pressure from Woman A to speak to the police. She says she didn’t feel pressure to give a statement; she only wanted to speak about things when she wanted to, but “people were talking about this”
Shelagh McCall asks if this was a trivial incident? Woman C says “it was something done by my first minister and leader - it was something you put to one side, because who on earth are you going to tell about something like that?”
Asked by Shelagh McCall if she thought this alleged incident was a sexual assault, Woman C says “it was entirely inappropriate and wrong”. “I suppose when you look back you realise how much you excuse a person because of who they are.”
Woman C: “because it’s so hard to explain how much (Alex Salmond) meant to our party, you just put things to one side. I don’t think it was nothing - it was because of who he is and what he was. Who on earth was I going to tell and what on earth were they going to do about it?”
Court is done for the day.
