Witnesses participated in WhatsApp group chat before police were contacted

Defence says ‘scary’ pattern of allegations shows former First Minister must be cleared

Gordon Jackson QC has told jurors at former first minister Alex Salmond’s show-trial in Edinburgh that the entire indictment is “murky” and “smells bad”.

Mr Salmond’s defence advocate, told the jury of nine women and six men in Edinburgh they had to use their “rational minds” and acquit the former first minister of all 13 charges against him.

In his closing speech to the jury today, Mr Jackson, a former opponent of Mr Salmond in the Scottish Parliament, said a “scary” pattern had emerged with all the allegations, some of which dated back 12 years. There were no direct witnesses to any of the claims, which include a charge of attempted rape and one of intent to rape.

Jackson apologised to the jury for saying earlier in the trial that some of the alleged offences were trivial, but said inconsistencies and contradictions cropped up repeatedly in the testimonies and evidence. And, he alleged, there were signs some of the charges were orchestrated.

“This comes out of a political bubble with no real independent support of any kind. I said already it smelled and I don’t apologise for that one bit,” he said, summing up the defence case after the two-week trial.

“I don’t care if you like him or you don’t like him. He was the Marmite man but I know he’s entitled to the law’s protection. He’s entitled not to be convicted of anything unless there’s clear evidence.

“It’s the same pattern all of the time,” he said, arguing that matters not deemed serious at the time had been inflated to criminal charges later. “All the time – I can’t say that strongly enough – it is the same pattern over and over and over again. It’s scary.”

Mr Jackson told the jury that it was evident that woman H wanted revenge on Salmond because he thwarted her professional ambitions. “This is a murky, murky world we live in.”

He told the court that witness A, a senior Scottish government official who accused Mr Salmond of repeatedly touching her without permission had tried to orchestrate some of the charges.

“That stinks,” he said. “It absolutely stinks.”

Witness A contacted at least four of the complainers, all serving or former officials, before Salmond was charged, Jackson told the jury. They used a WhatsApp group before going to police.

It was also revealed that Woman H, who made the most serious allegation of Attempted Rape, was on record saying that it “would be great” to work with Alex Salmond again – a year after she alleged that he had attempted to rape her, the court had heard.

Mr Salmond, 65, has always protested his innocence.

Mr Jackson started his closing speech to the jury with a quote from one of the plaintiffs. “I wish for my life the first minister was a better man and I was not here,” he said.

He said it was a “good line”, which was also used at the beginning of Crown prosecutor Alex Prentice QC’s closing speech on Thursday.

Mr Jackson said: “If in some ways the former first minister had been a better man, I wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be here, none of us would be here.

“I’m not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn’t have been a better man on occasions. That would be a waste of my time.

“But I’m in a court of law and I’m dealing, not with whether he could have been a better man, I'm dealing with whether or not it was established that he was guilty of serious criminal charges.”

Mr Jackson told the jury that to find the charges proven requires a “very, very high standard of proof”.

“There can only be a guilty verdict in these matters because of that standard of proof.” He added: “You have to be satisfied of that very high standard. There’s only to be guilt in that instance, not because someone could have been a better man.”

Mr Salmond is on trial over accusations of sexual assault, including an attempted rape.

His lawyers previously lodged special defences of consent and alibi. Consent was given as a defence for three alleged sexual assaults and an alleged indecent assault against three women.

The trial, before judge Lady Dorrian, has finished and jurors will now decide the former First Minister's fate.