ALEX Salmond’s leading trial lawyer has said he may have been “set up” after being caught on video apparently naming two of his client’s accusers.
Gordon Jackson QC resigned as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates last month shortly after helping secure the former First Minister’s acquittal on 13 sexual assault charges.
A few days after the verdict, a Sunday newspaper published a video of Mr Jackson taken on a train during the trial in which he was overheard discussing Mr Salmond’s case.
Despite a court order granting all nine of Mr Salmond’s accusers anonymity for life, Mr Jackson appeared to name two of the women, and was disparaging about one of them, suggesting she might be seen as "a flake" and he intended to "put a smell on her".
In the resulting furore, Mr Jackson refers himself to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, which polices the legal profession.
Earlier this week, Mr Salmond’s former justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, said Mr Jackson’s downfall pointed to “dark forces” being involved in the trial.
The SNP MP for East Lothian called Mr Jackson a “victim” and said what happened to him seemed “more than accidental” and his “real crime” was representing Mr Salmond.
Mr MacAskill said Mr Jackson’s experience could be part of a wider conspiracy against Mr Salmond by senior people in the Scottish Government and SNP.
The Times newspaper today reported Mr Jackson had sent an email to members of the Faculty in which he claimed he suggested the train video was part of a “set-up”.
He wrote: “It is as yet far from clear what happened on the train. I strongly suspect this was a deliberate set-up but for now it is not clear what was actually said and to whom and in what circumstances. I very much hope this will be established in due course.”
Mr Jackson also told the Times: “I wasn’t speaking to a stranger on a train but I don’t know who it was. I can’t remember the conversation.
“I’m clearly talking to someone I knew and who knew me but they have never come forward.
“If it was a pal you would expect them to say, ‘That was me’.”
He added: “I could have been unlucky and it could just have been someone [on the train] but you’d think they would take it to a tabloid, not The Sunday Times.
“Maybe I’m clutching at straws but I think there’s more to it.”
Mr Salmond, 65, is now writing a book about his trial in order to air evidence he was not allowed to present in court about an alleged political plot against him.
His former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars has said the book will be like a “volcanic eruption” for the party and its current leadership, and that the independence movement may have to start over with a new party because of the “rot” in the SNP.
The Faculty of Advocates declined to comment, as Mr Jackson is currently under investigation by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.
The Commission can remit cases back to the Faculty, which can in turn take action against advocates, up to expulsion for life.
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