Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond arrested

Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has been arrested by police.

Police Scotland confirmed that a 64-year-old man had been charged and said a report would be sent to prosecutors.

It is not yet known what Mr Salmond has been charged with.

Mr Salmond, who was first minister from 2007 to 2014, could appear in court later on Thursday. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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From Sky :

Police Scotland has been investigating sexual harassment complaints from two women against the former SNP leader. Mr Salmond has denied the claims, which date back to 2013 when he was first minister. Speaking to Sky News last year, he said he was "not guilty of any criminality whatsoever". In a statement, Police Scotland said: "We can confirm a 64 year-old man has been arrested and charged and a report has been sent to the procurator fiscal."
Mr Salmond earlier this month won his legal action against the Scottish government over their handling of an investigation into the complaints. A court said the government's decisions were "procedurally unfair and... tainted with apparent bias".

Could be this , might not be though .

Well, about time. Clearly he has a case to answer and arrest is just formalising. I was concerned when the allegations came out Salmond immediately sought to politicise by launching a court action against the process, rather then the allegations.

Also, it'll be interesting to see how deep the SNP cover-up has gone.

I was sure I had read last month that the investigation had cleared him.

I wonder if they have uncovered something else.

It always struck me as suspicious how much the SNP distanced themselves from him almost as soon as he left office, could it be that they knew this was coming.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Yeah if it's not the allegations of the two women , it could be something to do with the case of Hollie Greig . Checked and he is being linked to it .. Have you guys heard of that ?

a reply to: DoctorBluechip

The case is pretty well known in Scotland but I didn't know he had been linked to it.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

He's being seen as fairly central to the cover-up . It looks like that case has been so secretised because it's a clear demonstration of how a ring can be made up of state actors ; doctors social workers police lawyers psychiatrists judges politicians etc and immediate family all accused . In other words an absolute and complete failure of all possible child protection , but worse than that it would be the reverse of what should have been going on .

a reply to: DoctorBluechip

Ive just googled it.

Im rapidly losing faith in our politicians, it's one thing after another, jeez.

There is a lot of stuff on twitter atm, saying its a British conspiracy to discredit Scottish politicians, considering the timing regarding brexit.

As ever, its very difficult to know what to think.

The charges have been released.

twitter.com...

a reply to: gortex

Those are some very serious charges and they are the kind that usually only end up in court if their is a reasonable chance of conviction even more so I would think given his position.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Looks like the biggest political scandal since devolution

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Must admit I was surprised by the two charges of attempted rape , of course innocent until proven guilty but there's a real chance the former Scottish First Minister would be given a prison sentence should he be found guilty.

It remains to be seen how Nicola Sturgeon will be affected by this given the questions about the SNP investigation into the claims.

a reply to: gortex

He could do a runner and join Julian Assange. I'm sure they would get on like a house on fire.

a reply to: gortex

Yeah its not the kind of thing that the procurator fiscal would bring to the courts without confidence in a conviction I think, I mean yeah he is innocent until proven guilty but its not looking good.

If you look at Sturgeon though since he left office she has had almost nothing to do with him, which makes me wonder if this had been known with in the higher ups of the SNP that these accusations were floating around so they have been deliberately distancing themselves.

originally posted by: paraphi
a reply to: gortex

He could do a runner and join Julian Assange. I'm sure they would get on like a house on fire.

He did have a show on RT for a while....

Although am pretty sure they will have suspended his passport he's bound to be a flight risk.

I have absolutely zero respect for Alex Salmond as a politician.

I know nothing about him as a person.

I believe in transparency, especially for those who seek to represent and/or govern us.

But I dislike the public nature of these accusations.....because that's all they are at present, accusations.
A basic principle of both English and Scottish Law is 'Innocent until proven guilty'.
Regardless of the outcome of any subsequent trial of Alex Salmond he will always be guilty in the eye's of many.

It goes without saying that if found guilty he should be punished with the maximum sentence in accordance with the law.

As far as I can tell the SNP investigation is into three undisclosed meetings and two phone conversations Sturgeon had with Salmond after the internal investigation had been announced in breach of 'ministerial code'.
The SNP investigation is completely separate to the criminal investigation.

www.pressandjournal.co.uk... id/

a reply to: gortex

.....there's a real chance the former Scottish First Minister would be given a prison sentence should he be found guilty.

If found guilty he should be locked away for the rest of life in a cell with just the bear essentials, a subsistence level diet of bread and water and the only exercise and association with other prisoners should be on a chain gang doing hard labour.

Sex offenders give up their rights the moment they commit their crime!

Inevitable as it probably is but I would hate to see British politicians trying to make political gain out of this.

There is no smoke without fire

This is life in Scotland www.imdb.com... and since these offenses were allegedly committed while in office i hope they throw away the keys

Wait till this goes to court he will get off with 240 hrs of community service

originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: gortex

.....there's a real chance the former Scottish First Minister would be given a prison sentence should he be found guilty.

If found guilty he should be locked away for the rest of life in a cell with just the bear essentials.

Ummm...just bear essentials...that’s actually a very apt sentence...

Nay...not bread and water...just blackberries...by the truckload...lots of fiber there...

Dude will be shiiteing a blue streak...





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