Alex Salmond appears in court on attempted rape charge

Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland, has appeared in court accused of attempting to rape a woman at Bute House, the Georgian property in Edinburgh’s new town used as the official residence of Scotland’s first ministers, in June 2014.

He appeared at the high court in Edinburgh on Thursday in front of Lady Dorrian, the lord justice clerk, to face a total of 14 charges including one of attempted rape, 11 charges of sexual and indecent assault, some of which allegedly occurred numerous times, and two common law charges of indecent assault dating to 2008. Salmond has repeatedly denied the charges.

In a further alleged sexual assault charge, Salmond is accused of kissing and groping another woman at Bute House in December 2013, and pinning her to a bed. The indictment says “this you did with the intent to rape her”.

He sat in the dock, wearing a suit and tie with Saltires, flanked by two court security officers and did not speak during the brief hearing. Outside court, with his sister Gail Hendry standing behind him, he addressed the media to say he was pleading not guilty to all the charges and would defend himself vigorously.

“I’m not permitted to say too much today, save that we’ve lodged our defence statement in the court and plead not guilty to all charges. We’re also in the midst of a general election campaign and I’m not going to say anything that would influence that process,” Salmond said.

 “We’re now into our second year of court actions, first civil and now criminal. It’s over 10 months since we won the civil action. I’m innocent and will defend my position vigorously. But the only proper place to answer criminal charges is in this court and that’s exactly what we intend to do next spring.”

Salmond, from Strichen in Aberdeenshire, first appeared in private at Edinburgh sheriff court in January charged with 14 offences, including two attempted rapes, nine charges of sexual assault, two of indecent assault and one breach of the peace.

Addressing the media outside court in January, Salmond said he was innocent: “I refute these allegations of criminality and I will defend myself to the utmost in court.”

He is being represented by one of Scotland’s most senior defence advocates, Gordon Jackson QC, a former Labour MSP who is also dean of the faculty of advocates, the profession’s supervisory and representative body. The prosecution is being led by Alex Prentice QC, one of Scotland’s most respected prosecutors.

The charges Salmond now faces are detailed for the first time in an indictment on which he is expected to stand trial from 9 March next year. The trial is expected to last four weeks. A second alleged attempted rape and the breach of the peace charge no longer appear on the indictment.

The new indictment includes allegations from 10 women, and detail alleged offences taking place in Baillieston, Glasgow, in 2008; at a nightclub in central Edinburgh in 2010 or 2011; a car travelling from Holyrood Road to Waverley station in Edinburgh in 2011; at the Scottish parliament various times between 2011 and 2013; at Stirling Castle in late 2014; and the Ubiquitous Chip restaurant in the west end of Glasgow in 2012.

Nine of the charges relate to a series of alleged offences at Bute House, which Salmond used as his residence in Edinburgh after becoming first minister in May 2007 until his resignation as Scottish National party leader after losing the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014.

The allegations of assault and attempted rape at Bute House, which are offences under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, have been brought by seven women.