Former SNP council leader guilty of sexual assault of five men and boys
Jordan Linden committed his crimes over a 10-year period
A former SNP politician has been found guilty by a jury of sexually assaulting five young men and boys aged 15 to 22.
Jordan Linden, 30, former leader of North Lanarkshire Council and a past chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, was also convicted by a jury of causing fear and alarm and of directing unwanted sexual communications towards seven teenagers aged from 14, including pictures of himself in a bubble bath and more explicit shots of his genitalia.
The offences spanned ten years from 2011 to 2021 during Linden's time at North Lanarkshire, the youth parliament and the SNP's youth wing, Young Scots for Independence.
Linden looked shocked and appeared to choke back tears in the dock as the verdicts were announced. Four of the five sexual assault verdicts were unanimous.
He was found not guilty, unanimously, of a sixth charge of sexual assault and was also acquitted, unanimously, of five other charges of stalking and sexual communication.
Sheriff Christopher Shead deferred sentence to May 5 for reports and continued bail.
He told him: “The court will have to consider the full range of disposals.”
Linden's counsel David Moggach KC reserved mitigation.
Linden, of Bellshill, had denied all the charges – saying they either did not take place, or were consensual.
He insisted: “If they tell me no, it means no.”
He said he felt “gutted, betrayed, burned and done over” at being accused.
After a seven-day trial, the jury at Falkirk Sheriff Court debated for less than four hours to reach the verdicts.
The court heard that the victims had been stroked, poked, prodded, touched inappropriately and sent the partially naked and sometimes explicit selfies by Linden.
Witnesses spoke of Linden getting into beds or bunks with them, or trying to pull at their belts and waistbands.
One man said Linden's touching, on the face or the cheek or the neck, was “relentless” but when he told a youth worker it was dismissed as “just Jordan”.
Another-said Linden cornered him in a hotel room, poking and prodding him, and sent him suggestive and flirtatious messages and pictures on Snapchat including “almost but not quite nude” selfies in the bath.
A man, who is now 29, recalled a ‘traumatic evening’ in August 2018 – a year after Linden became an SNP councillor – when they had been at the politician’s flat drinking and watching a film.
The court heard that a man went to police in 2023 because he “did not feel confident” that reports he had made within the party from 2022 onwards would be dealt with appropriately. He said that everywhere he went for help in the SNP he was ignored or the matter was downplayed. Other witnesses also said their complaints about him were downplayed or ignored.
Linden was elected leader of North Lanarkshire Council in May 2022 but resigned from the post a few weeks later when allegations emerged.
He was later reported to be working as a karaoke host. He was arrested in February 2024.