Sexual offences trial of former SNP council leader hears from alleged victim

An ex-member of the Scottish Youth Parliament told a jury he had quit the organisation because a colleague's behaviour made him feel vulnerable and "sick to the stomach."

Former SNP council leader Jordan Linden, 30, is accused of offences against eight boys and five young men between 2011 and 2022.

The alleged victims were aged between 14 and 22 at the time.

Linden, who stood down as leader of North Lanarkshire Council in 2022, denies 24 charges of sexual assault, stalking, sexual communication and statutory breach of the peace.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard a man, who is now 30, was 15 when he met Linden at the youth parliament.

He said Linden phoned him in the night "panting", sent him photographs of his genitalia, touched his bottom, tried to pull his trousers down, and "poked and prodded him", even in meetings.

The man said: "There was no barrier that you'd have with a stranger

"He would almost always, and not just to myself, touch your arm, try to touch you on the stomach.

"He had a way of trying to touch your belt almost as if to pull your trousers down, [asking] what boxers you were wearing, tugging at the top".

The former MSYP told prosecutor Alistair McDermid "it would be nigh on impossible" to put a number on how often it happened.

He said he "made it known" he was uncomfortable to Linden and youth workers.

"Jordan touching you, on the face or the cheek or the neck – it was continuous," he explained.

"As the years went on it continued and I made myself more vocal that I didn't want it to happen. It was relentless."

The man said he made it "abundantly clear" that he was straight and didn't want Linden touching him.

He said Linden's actions were done openly, so it would have been clear for youth workers and others to see.

But he recalled one youth worker told him it was: "just Jordan".

The jury heard the incidents occurred in many locations.

The man continued to tell the court about how Linden would phone him in the middle of the night and send him "more than a handful" of photographs of his genitals.

He said he was "disgusted" and "looked in no great detail".

The incidents meant he had to have a conversation with his female partner - who noticed the pictures on his phone - emphasising he was not in a relationship with Linden.

In one incident members of the youth parliament had travelled for an event, when the man found himself booked into a double room with Linden, despite having made it "abundantly clear" that should not happen.

He said the room arrangements were changed, but Linden was "laughing, saying he didn't have any jammies with him, and we were booked into a double bed".

He said what he termed "the Just Jordan behaviour" became more blasé as time went on, and made him feel vulnerable and "sick to the stomach."

The man eventually removed himself from the Youth Parliament to "take himself out of the equation".

Linden, represented by David Moggach KC, denies the allegations.

In one of the charges of sexual communication, he has given notice of a special defence of consent.

He also claims two alleged sexual assaults, on a 22 or 23-year-old man in Bellshill and Glasgow in 2018, were consensual acts.

The Crown has also given notice it intends to lead evidence outside of the charges of an incident involving a sleeping man at a youth hostel in Barcelona in September 2016, and an alleged assault at a hotel in Venice, Italy, in November 2018.

Linden is said to have thrown a cup and its contents at a 22-year-old man.

The trial, before Sheriff Christopher Shead, continues.