Nicola Sturgeon says Alex Salmond knew the names of complainers from his own knowledge

She was challenged about claims that a government official had revealed a name to a former member of Alex Salmond’s staff.

The First Minister said Salmond was not told the names at a meeting in her house on April 2 and that she did not accept his former Chief of Staff, Geoff Aberdein, was told the name of a complainant at an earlier meeting with a Scottish government official.

READ MORE:Nicola Sturgeon at Salmond inquiry: 'I will never forget' being told of allegations

She said that Alex Salmond knew the name of one of the women because he recalled the incident and had already apologised to the woman.

And on the other she said he had gone through the Scottish Government Flickr account to check dates.

Sturgeon was asked at the Scottish Parliament committee into the handling of harassment complaints about the meetings and the alleged disclosure of complainants.

Jackie Baillie, Labour MSP, asked Sturgeon about the meeting between an official and Mr Aberdein and asked “who authorised the senior member of your team to reveal the name?”

Sturgeon said: “I’m not accepting that happened. This is a matter of contention. I dispute the premise of the question.”

Ms Baillie and Murdo Fraser, Conservative MSP, both raised statements by Kevin Pringle, former SNP and Government adviser, and Duncan Hamilton, Salmond’s lawyer, who both said Geoff Aberdein told them the name had been shared with him.

Sturgeon said: "I don’t know for certain but based on what Alex Salmond said to me on April 2, one of the complainants Alex Salmond was pretty clear he had found out through investigation on social media. The other, he knew about the incident because he apologized to the person.”

She said Kevin Pringle and Duncan Hamilton were not party to the discussion. s

She added: “The two people who were party to it, Geoff Aberdein and the other person have two different accounts of the discussion.”