Salmond cleared of historic sexual assault claims as police end probe

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Police Scotland are to take 'no further action' over a historic sexual assault allegation levelled at Alex Salmond after his death.
The force received a complaint about the former first minister shortly after he suffered a fatal heart attack in North Macedonia in October aged 69.
After investigating the report, the police have now cleared the former Alba leader.
In a statement, the force said: 'Following a report of a non-recent sexual assault, enquiries were carried out and no further action will be taken.'
Mr Salmond, who led the SNP for 20 years and was first minister from 2007 to 2014, was cleared of 13 sexual offence counts at a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in March 2020.
Earlier misconduct claims made against him by two female civil servants led to a massive falling out with his protégé Nicola Sturgeon and a split in the Nationalist movement.
In 2018, Mr Salmond resigned from the SNP after the claims emerged and challenged a Scottish Government probe into them.
His successful judicial review showed the in-house inquiry had been unfair, unlawful and 'tainted by apparent bias', and he was awarded £512,00 in legal costs.
He launched Alba on the eve of the 2021 Holyrood election as a pro-independence rival to his old party, but it has remained a political minnow and has yet to have a candidate elected.
Alba MSP Ash Regan welcomed Police Scotland's decision.
She told the Daily Record: 'Alex Salmond died with his reputation intact as a titan of Scottish politics. Alex can no longer defend himself, yet some remain determined to smear his name.
'It is time to let him rest, grant his wife Moira and his family the closure they deserve and draw a line so his legacy can be remembered with dignity.'
Dr Nick McKerrell, a senior law lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, told the paper that investigating alleged crimes by dead people was 'not without precedent'.
'While the police 'obviously have difficulties with the absence of the key participants, there still can be public interest in carrying it out even though there can be no prosecution'.