Craig Murray sentenced to eight months over Salmond trial blog posts

Britain’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan has been sentenced to eight months in prison after unlawfully publishing details about the identities of female witnesses in Alex Salmond’s criminal trial.

Craig Murray, 62, was found to have breached a strict court order put in place to protect the identities of women who gave evidence against the former first minister at his sexual assault trial.

Lady Dorrian allowed Murray’s sentence to be deferred for three weeks so that his legal team could submit an appeal.

The judge said the blogger’s actions stuck "at the heart of the fair administration of justice.”

She said they risked detering complainers from coming forward in future cases.