A Scottish Conservative MSP has been cleared of sexual harassment by the party's disciplinary committee.

Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, faced allegations relating to a parliamentary social event in February which he says made his and his family's lives a "living hell".

The Scottish Tories launched an investigation in July after a female worker from another party lodged a formal complaint about the alleged February incident.

Briggs was cleared of wrongdoing by the party on Monday and said his case had been supported by witness statements from people there on the night, including SNP parliamentary researchers.

However, Rape Crisis Scotland has said it has no confidence in the judgement.

The charity described as "completely inappropriate" an aspect of the Scottish Conservatives' complaints procedure which enables the person being complained about to directly cross-examine the complainant.

But the party says that it accepted several amendments to the procedure from the complainant, including one stipulating that Briggs would not be present in the room when the complainant's submission was made.

The complainant decided to withdraw from the process and therefore did not speak at Monday's hearing.

She issued a statement saying she was "gutted" at its outcome, describing the complaints procedure as "terrible".

In a statement after the hearing, Briggs said: "I welcome the chance today to speak publicly for the first time about these allegations.

"They have hung over me in private for the last two months. Now that they have been made public, I feel I can finally set the record straight.

"I was made aware of the allegations earlier this year. I was then informed two months ago that a complaint had been made to the party.

"I cooperated with the investigation that followed and, in accordance with the wishes of the complainant, I kept the matter confidential.

"The allegations are completely false."

He continued: "I was able to supply the party's disciplinary committee with several witness statements from individuals who were with me the entire evening and which not only challenged but contradicted these allegations and events that evening.

"I am especially grateful to the SNP parliamentary researchers who were among those who supported my case.

"I would like to put it on record that I believe it is vital for women and men to bring forward complaints of harassment, and for those complaints to be considered with care and confidentiality.

"I believe the party has done that in this case."

The Lothian MSP added: "The last two months have been a living hell for me and my family as I have had to face these false allegations of sexual harassment made against me.

"Damage has clearly been done to my character, especially among those who don't know me, and I hope I have the chance to address that in the coming weeks and months

"I very much hope that I can now go back to the job I love, serving my constituents across Lothian."

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said the Tories needed to look again at its complaints process.

She told STV News: "It should be apparent to anyone, I would have thought, that expecting somebody to be directly cross-examined by the person they made the complaint against is completely inappropriate.

"I think this is the reason why women don't make, or don't come forward, with sexual harassment complaints in the first place.

"I do think it's incumbent on anyone and everyone involved in developing processes around sexual harassment to re-look at what they're doing and make sure their process is fair and accessible."

Ms Brindley added: "It's over to the Scottish Conservatives, as with any party, to make sure their processes do not re-victimise and actually encourage people to come forward if they do have any complaints of this nature."

Asked if she had confidence in the judgement of the party's disciplinary body, she replied: "I couldn't say I do, no."

In a statement issues through Rape Crisis Scotland, the complainant said: "I'm gutted that Miles has been found to have done nothing wrong.

"I'm sad and angry that the process was so terrible that it felt as though this end result was written from very early on.

"I want to focus on changing the process to anyone in future can have confidence that someone's power will not protect them and that they will be treated better than I have been."