Court orders identities of Alex Salmond sexual misconduct complainers must be hidden

Former First Minister Alex Salmond has gone to court to secure anonymity orders for two women who made complaints against him ahead of his legal challenge against the Scottish Government.

He has raised a judicial review due to be heard in January challenging the procedures and fairness of an investigation following allegations of sexual misconduct.

The inquiry was overseen by the Scottish Government's top official and resulted in material being referred to the police.

A judge today granted interim orders prohibiting the publication of material which would identify the persons, such as their names or their past and present designations.

Lord Pentland said: "All those involved have been understandably concerned to protect the complainers' privacy. The complaints were made in the expectation that the complainers' privacy would be protected throughout."

The judge said it was important to understand that the action brought by Mr Salmond focused on the procedural aspects, the legality and the overall fairness of the Scottish Government investigation.

He said it followed that case can be fully reported in the media without the identities of the complainers being made known.

Ronald Clancy QC, for Mr Salmond, told the judge at the Court of Session in Edinburgh that despite the nature of the judicial review "the content of the complaints will invariably feature in these proceedings".

He said that Mr Salmond was seeking to protect the privacy of the complainers in the action and in any press or media reporting of it.

Mr Clancy said: "We say that the right of privacy clearly arises from the subject matter of the complaints and the way that these complaints have been characterised in the decision report."

He said it was "fairly trite" in court proceedings in Scotland where such allegations arose that individuals privacy rights were respected.

"The complainers made their original complaints with the legitimate expectation the matter would be dealt with in strict confidence," he said.

Mr Clancy said: "The public interest in these proceedings lies in the identity of the petitioner and the fact he was the holder of high public office."

"There is obvious public interest in the application of this 2017 procedure to him as a former minister and there is very significant public interest in the fairness of the procedure generally," he said.

Mr Clancy said the 2017 procedure under which the investigation was carried out was designed to be confidential.

Lord Pentland said he was satisfied that an interim order should be made which allows interested parties who are directly affected by it to make representations to the court if they choose to do so.

Two complaints were made against Mr Salmond in January - and are alleged to have taken place when he was First Minister. He strongly denies the claims.