@BlackForestCake
I identified one of the complainants thanks to a journalistic article published months before the trial. My suspicion was confirmed thanks to Dani Garavelli's article in the aftermath. How on earth Craig Murray is being held in contempt while these 'mainstream' journalists are not is beyond me. I've had long-standing concerns about Craig Murray's mental health, but I can't see anything on his blog that could be said to risk identifying the complainants without acknowledging that prior articles were even more intransigent in that regard.
The thing that baffles me about all of this is how on earth Leslie Evans has remained in post throughout, and at the very least not been placed on gardening leave pending the outcome of these enquiries. She, more than anyone, is responsible for the utterly farcical manner in which the initial enquiries into this were handled. The degree of blatant poor practice suggests that either she is utterly incompetent, or that along with several others (who I can't name, otherwise I'd expect this post to be deleted) actively engaged in a plot to 'nail' Salmond.
The laughable thing about it, is that if the allegations of conspiracy are true, and this was a plot by a pro-Sturgeon sect to bring down Salmond, then in the course of their scheming they have inadvertently dragged the First Minister into in in a manner that either a) makes her look utterly naive, or b) entirely complicit. Either way, I think she's in hot water if it emerges that the initial internal SG handling of this was anything other than just a colossally incompetent shambles right from the very start. I hope for her sake that this is one of those occasions that fits the narrative of "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".
My personal opinion on this is that Evans is simply incompetent, but she was taken advantage of by the first of the complainants, and thanks to the original failings of the procedure and due to poor practice, the thing grew arms and legs driven by someone with a grudge until it became this monster consisting of 14 serious criminal charges. I think Salmond is undoubtedly a sleaze, but I think the root of why he was never convicted of a single criminal act lies firmly and squarely with the individuals who were responsible for the conception, introduction, and facilitation of a laughably inadequate new set of procedures, who then went about handling the internal investigation in a completely cack-handed and amateurish manner.
I do think at least some of the allegations against Salmond, possibly the vast majority of them, are absolutely true, but the women involved have, first of all, been led up the garden path, then horribly let down by the people they entrusted to act on their behalf.