Alex Salmond's lawyer Gordon Jackson KC hit with five-month suspension after naming accusers on train

The lawyer who represented Alex Salmond in a 2020 High Court trial has reportedly been served with a five-month ban for naming the former first minister’s accusers on a train.

Gordon Jackson KC is understood to have received the suspension from practicing from the Faculty of Advocates, the Daily Record has reported.

However, the sanction has not been applied as Mr Jackson has been given permission to appeal the decision at a disciplinary tribunal.

Mr Jackson had represented Mr Salmond in a high-profile trial in 2020, in which Mr Salmond was cleared of multiple allegations of sexual assault.

Former first minister Alex Salmond bumps elbow with Gordon Jackson KC as he departs Edinburgh High Court in March 2020. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The trial lawyer had come under fire after he was caught on video on a train travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow naming two of Mr Salmond's accusers, who are the subject of strict rules protecting their anonymity.

In the video, Mr Jackson could be heard saying of one accuser: "All I need to do is put a smell on her."

He was also heard saying: "I don't know much about senior politicians, but he was quite an objectionable bully to work with, in a way that I don't think Nicola [current first minister Nicola Sturgeon] is.

"I think he was a nasty person to work for … a nightmare to work for."

The lawyer, who is a former Labour MSP, subsequently quit as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, which then launched a probe following a complaint by Rape Crisis Scotland.

A disciplinary panel found Mr Jackson breached a court order protecting the accusers' identities.

Mr Jackson had sent an email to members of the Faculty of Advocates claiming the video footage may have been a “deliberate set-up”.

Rape Crisis Scotland has been critical of delays in resolving the investigation into the video recording, with the organisation having represented complainers involved in the Jackson case.

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said in April: “This has been a drawn out and difficult process littered with extensive delays that have had a very real and significant impact on the lives of those involved.

“Jackson may well have believed that his colleagues would have worked to try to shield him from any consequences to his actions, but it is right that he is held to account.”