The spokesman for disgraced MSP Bill Walker has withdrawn comments concerning one of the politician's abused ex-wives after heavy criticism.
In a statement, PR man Iain Maciver suggested Diana Walker was "enjoying the limelight" surrounding Walker's conviction and questioned why she did not leave him sooner.
Politicians condemned the remarks, which Mr Maciver said later had not been approved by Walker, 71. In a statement, he said: "Mr Bill Walker did not write that statement. He left it to me to clarify matters about their divorce and the result is all my fault. I apologise to Diana Walker who absolutely did not deserve those silly comments and criticism."
Walker, of Alloa in Clackmannanshire, was convicted of 23 domestic abuse charges at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month. The ex-SNP MSP, who was ejected from the party when the claims surfaced, denied the charges. He is due to be sentenced later this month and has stepped down as an MSP.
A later statement from Mr Maciver headed "what Diana Walker always forgets to mention" said: "Although they had separated, she did not want to divorce him and, in fact, Mr Walker had to divorce her on grounds which she did not deny. If she had been subject to as much abuse as she now claims, why did she not divorce him in the 1990s?"
The statement concluded: "Although I have asked Bill Walker to comment on this, he insists he will not."
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie had said: "Regardless of whether these comments came from his official spokesman or from Bill Walker himself, they are utterly shameful."
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said the comments were "a disgusting coda to a shameful set of actions" while Scottish Labour MSP Claire Baker said the statement raised "even more questions" about Walker.
Sheriff Kathrine Mackie had said she found the women in the case "credible and reliable".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article