A LAWYER defending former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond at his sexual assault trial started his closing speech on Friday with a quote from one of the nine woman who accused him.
Gordon Jackson QC said: "I wish for my life the first minister was a better man and I was not here."
He admitted it was a "good line", which was also used at the beginning of Crown prosecutor Alex Prentice's closing speech on Thursday.
He said: "If in some ways the former first minister had been a better man, I wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be here, none of us would be here.
"I'm not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn't have been a better man on occasions. That would be a waste of my time.
"But I'm in a court of law and I'm dealing not with whether he could have been a better man, because he certainly could have been better.
"I'm dealing with whether or not it was established he was guilty of serious, sometimes very serious, criminal charges."
READ MORE: READ: An updated list of charges Alex Salmond faces in court
Jackson said there was a "pattern" in the case where "something that was thought nothing of at the time" becomes a criminal charge in the High Court.
He told the jury to find the charges proved requires a "very, very high standard of proof".
"You have to be satisfied to that very high standard," he said.
"There's only to be guilt in these matters, not because someone could have been a better man.
"There can only be guilt in these matters because of that standard of proof."
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