A former SNP councillor sexually assaulted a colleague in the back of a taxi following a party fundraising event, a court heard.

Lewis Ritchie, 38, is alleged to have pounced on the woman by forcing his tongue into her mouth as the pair travelled home after the SNP bash at the party’s clubrooms in Edinburgh city centre.

Ritchie is also said to have sexually assaulted and made sleazy comments a waitress at the cafe he owns in the city’s Leith area.

The former nationalist councillor is alleged to have deliberately rubbed himself up against the woman while she worked shifts at the All Good Cafe on Easter Road.

Councillor Lewis Ritchie is on trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

The alleged victim told a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court that on one occasion Ritchie left her bruised after slapping the her on the buttocks while the pair were alone in the back of the cafe.

She told the trial he would regularly make sexual comments towards her and also about female customers who were in the cafe when she worked there between June and October 2019.

He is also facing a further allegation of of climbing into the bed of a third alleged victim and repeatedly asking to cuddle her following the SNP conference at the SECC in Glasgow in October 2017.

Ritchie, appearing under the name John Ritchie, denies all the charges against him and appeared for trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

The first alleged victim gave her evidence from behind a screen and said she

Edinburgh city councillor denies taxi sex assault on woman after SNP fundraiser