Former council leader guilty of sexually assaulting young men

A former SNP council leader has been found guilty of five sexual assaults of young men.

Jordan Linden, who stood down as leader of North Lanarkshire Council in 2022 after the allegations emerged, was convicted of a series of sexual offences.

He had initially faced a total of 15 charges at Falkirk Sheriff Court, including sexual assault, sexual communication and stalking.

Linden who also chaired the Scottish Youth Parliament, had denied all the charges against him. Sentence was deferred until May and he was placed on the sex offenders register before being released on bail.

The 30-year-old was also convicted of directing unwanted sexual communications towards seven teenagers, the youngest aged 14.

They included photos of himself in a bath and shots of his genitalia.

The offences took place over a 10-year period from 2011 until 2021.

After a seven-day trial, the jury debated for less than four hours to reach the verdicts.

One witness told the trial that during a trip to Barcelona with Young Scots for Independence - the youth wing of the SNP - Linden had climbed into his bed at a youth hostel and started caressing him and trying to kiss him.

Linden, from Bellshill, later told the court that he had only given the man a cuddle before going back to his own bed.

At the time of the trip, he was the chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament.

Linden became a councillor for the SNP the following year, and rose to become North Lanarkshire council leader in 2022.

He resigned from the post a few weeks later when the allegations emerged. He was arrested in 2024.

Another incident was reported to have taken place in 2019, following a Dundee Pride parade with Out For Independence - the LGBT wing of the SNP.

The court heard from an SNP party official who said Linden had locked him in a bathroom and tried to get him to urinate while he watched.

Linden had denied all the charges – saying they either did not take place, or were consensual.

He said he felt "gutted, betrayed, burned and done over" at being accused.

One man, who joined the SYP at the same time as Linden when they were both 15, said Linden's touching, on the face or the cheek or the neck, was "relentless".

But when he told a youth worker at the parliament it was dismissed as "just Jordan".

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

A man, now 29, recalled a "traumatic evening" in August 2018 – a year after Linden became an SNP councillor.

They had been at the politician's flat in Bellshill drinking and watching a film and later shared a bed.

He said he "vomited in disgust" after waking up to find Linden performing a sex act on him.

Several witnesses also said their complaints about him were downplayed or ignored by adults in Youth Parliament and the SNP.

Linden became chairman of the SYP in 2015 and stepped down the following year after explicit images of himself began to circulate amongst its 150 members.

It resulting in the Youth Parliament commissioning an investigation. Linden denied circulating the images.

In the witness box, Linden denied that any of his conduct was criminal saying he was just "young, naive and silly."

Linden was found not guilty of six other charges involving stalking and sexual assault.

Sheriff Christopher Shead deferred sentence until 5 May for reports.

An SNP spokesperson said: "We hope today's verdict brings some justice to those who have bravely come forward and shared their experiences. Their courage in speaking out cannot be overstated. As proceedings remain ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

A spokesperson for the Scottish Youth Parliament said Linden's actions were "reprehensible and diametrically opposed" to its values and ethos.

They added: "An independent review of our safeguarding arrangements, commissioned in the wake of the allegations, found that our child protection policies fully complied with national guidelines and legislation.

"Safeguarding, well-being and child protection are of paramount importance to SYP."