A civil servant has claimed that Alex Salmond apologised to her for his "unacceptable" behaviour.

Mr Salmond, 65, is on trial over accusations of sexual assault, including an attempted rape. 

He is accused of assaulting the woman, known only as Woman F, at the first minister's official residence, Bute House, in late 2013.

The High Court in Edinburgh today heard the former first minister of Scotland got on top of the woman on a bed, kissed her "sloppily and haphazardly" and murmured she was irresistible.

Woman F, who was being questioned by advocate depute Alex Prentice QC, told the court Mr Salmond said the pair should go to his bedroom for work as it was cold.

It was heard he then brought out a bottle of white Chinese spirit called Maotai and she drank a little.

She said he kept trying to top up her glass while he drank "steadily" until it was empty.

The prosecution witness added: "I had a little, the first minister had had rather more."

When she got up to leave, she said Mr Salmond told her "firmly" but not "aggressively" to get on the bed.

She added: "I felt quite panicked."

After sitting on the edge of the bed, the woman said Mr Salmond got on top of her and began to kiss and touch her and murmured that she was "irresistible".

The complainer said: "The first minister was lying on top of me, he had his hands under the skirt of my dress and ran them over my thighs and my bottom.

"He was also running his hands over the bodice of my dress and over my breasts.

"He was kissing me around my face, quite sloppily and haphazardly, and he was repeatedly murmuring a phrase - it was something like 'you're irresistible'."

She also told the court: "I thought that he was going to remove my tights and my underwear, that he would be pushing the encounter physically further."

She said Mr Salmond had either eventually stopped or had shifted his weight. She managed to get up from the bed and "said goodnight" to him.

The Scottish Government official, who is the fourth complainer to give evidence, said Mr Salmond later apologised to her after a meeting was arranged.

She said: "The first minister told me that he was sorry for what had happened, it had been unacceptable.

"He said that he had been drinking more than usual, not just that night but in general due to stress."

Gordon Jackson QC, representing Mr Salmond, put it to the complainer that the incident had been a "sleepy cuddle", which the complainer rejected, and then she got up to leave.

He said: "He didn't try to restrain you, he didn't block your path to the door, he never said 'please don't go'.

"It was clear this wasn't happening. You leave and he said 'goodnight'."

The woman told the court Mr Salmond had kissed her on a previous occasion at Bute House.

She said: "I was preparing to leave and the first minister kissed me on the mouth, then smiled at me and said 'goodnight'."

When asked if she had invited him to kiss her or agreed to him kissing her, she added: "No, absolutely not."

Mr Jackson described the accused as a "tactile human being".

Mr Salmond faces 14 charges of alleged offences against 10 women, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

The charges span a period between June 2008 and November 2014, with one sexual assault said to have taken place in the month of the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014.

Mr Salmond's lawyers previously lodged special defences of consent and alibi.

Consent was given as a defence for three alleged sexual assaults and an alleged indecent assault against three women.

The trial, before judge Lady Dorrian, continues.