Alex Salmond trial: Scotland’s former first minister ‘pretended to be zombie’ before alleged sexual assault

The trial of Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has heard how he pretended to be a zombie before an alleged sexual assault.

A woman who works for the SNP told the High Court in Edinburgh that Salmond stretched his arms out straight and did an impression of a zombie walking towards her.

Salmond has pleaded not guilty to 14 charges of sexual offences against 10 women, including one of attempted rape and one with intent to rape.

The SNP worker, who can’t be named for legal reasons, told the court she was with Salmond in his official residence of Bute House the week before Scotland’s independence referendum in September 2014.

She said he was “very angry” at a particular story on the news that evening and was pacing backwards and forwards in the upstairs living room.

She said she had gone to the toilet and, when she returned, he was lying on the floor working on a speech. He told her to lie down beside him.

She told the court he had a copy of his speech in front of him and an extra copy. She said he didn’t look up and just said “come here and work on this speech” without making eye contact.

She said she paused for a second and went to pick up the speech. She told the court she was annoyed at herself for not asking him to sit at the table. She ended up lying near him.

She said that Salmond then suddenly stood up.

“Out of the blue, he said ‘have you seen that zombie movie?’

“And he said ‘stand up’.

“As I stood up he stretched his arms out straight towards me and for a second or two he did an impression of a zombie walking towards me.

“He was taking a couple of clumsy steps towards me. He put his hands on my shoulders and then he leaned in to kiss me on the cheek.

“He then leaned into me to kiss me on the lips.

“I raised my arms to break the connection on my shoulders.”

Earlier on Friday, the court heard from a female former civil servant who said photographs had been taken of her as Salmond grabbed hold of her bottom.

She said the photographs were taken at an event at Stirling Castle in 2014.

She told the court Salmond had been “very insistent” that she have her photograph taken with him.

She claimed that while they were standing in front of the photographer, Salmond put his arm round her before grabbing hold of her backside “quite forcefully” with his “full hand”.

She said she had felt “shock and disbelief” but had tried to keep smiling and composed.

She added: “I just wanted to do my job and feel proud of myself doing my job and it felt like I was being demeaned.

“It was unprofessional but there was nothing I could do about it.”

Another alleged victim, a civil servant in the Scottish government, told the court how Salmond would, at times, place his hand on her back and lower down, on her bottom. She said it made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

Asked by advocate-depute Alex Prentice QC if she had thought of taking some action, she replied: “He was the leader of the country. I really liked my job, valued my job. I felt that if I complained it would be my word against his and I was really, really concerned it would damage my career.”

She told the court that, on one occasion, she was in the back seat of a car with Salmond. He had dozed off and so had she. She woke up to him stroking her cheek. She said she thought she had jumped, got quite a fright, and was really shocked, very startled, and it made her feel “pretty icky”.

On a separate occasion, she claimed she had been in a lift with Salmond and a male colleague when Salmond reached out again to touch her face. She said her colleague batted his hand away and said something along the lines of “what do you think you’re doing?”

The trial, before Lady Dorrian, continues.

(c) Sky News 2020: Alex Salmond trial: Scotland’s former first minister ‘pretended to be zombie’ before alleged sexual assault