Police have received a “non-recent” allegation of sexual assault made against Alex Salmond, who was leader of the Alba Party up until his sudden death last month.

Mr Salmond died of a heart attack on October 12 during a political visit to North Macedonia. His funeral was held on October 29 in Strichen, Aberdeenshire.

Mr Salmond was first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 under the Scottish National Party (SNP) government.

He resigned in 2018 after a number of allegations of sexual misconduct came to light.

He was later cleared of all 14 charges in 2020 – being found not guilty of 12, while prosecutors withdrew another charge and one was found not proven.

Police Scotland has now said a separate report of misconduct has been filed against Mr Salmond.

A spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have received a report of a non-recent sexual assault.

“The information is being assessed.”

Responding to coverage of the allegations reported by the media, Alba Party general secretary Chris McEleny said the allegations are “smears” and urged the Scottish Government to allow Mr Salmond to “rest in peace”.

Mr McEleny said: “In life, the conspiracy and smears to stitch up Alex Salmond by the close allies, appointees, staff and advisers of Nicola Sturgeon were unanimously rejected in Scotland’s highest criminal court by a majority female jury who listened to the evidence meticulously.

“Three hundred people were interviewed as part of that investigation in a search for allegations and I was at the meeting of the SNP National Executive Committee in January 2019 when concerns were raised that the SNP, led by Nicola Sturgeon and ran by her husband Peter Murrell, was actively soliciting complaints from SNP staff and MPs at Westminster back in 2018.

“Nicola Sturgeon’s government were humiliated after being found to have acted unlawfully against Alex Salmond and someone from her own government leaked an unlawful document – subsequently reduced by Scotland’s Supreme Court – intended to damage the character of Alex Salmond.

“The only thing between Nicola and being exposed in this conspiracy is an anonymity order that prevents the public from knowing how close she has been all along to the architecture of the greatest scandal in the modern history of Scotland.

"If Nicola has any heart left she will urge her allies to cease these attacks and smears on Alex and allow him to rest in peace.”

The SNP and the Scottish Government were contacted for comment.