North Lanarkshire Council's chief is on the centre of claims he groped a youngster at a boozy get together.
Jordan Linden was promoted to his £45,000 council job and had ambitions to be an MP, regardless of being the main focus of complaints to get together bosses about his behaviour.
Lanarkshire Reside's sister paper the Sunday Mail has revealed that the 27-year-old is accused of creating undesirable advances in the direction of a youngster at a flat in Dundee following a Delight occasion within the metropolis.
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Three sources have outlined particulars of allegations that Linden groped and sexually harassed the younger man whereas the pair had been in a room collectively and described the SNP councillor as being “very drunk”.
Simply two months in the past, Councillor Linden was introduced as chief of North Lanarkshire Council following Might’s native elections.
SNP bosses at the moment are below hearth to clarify why Linden, a former chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament, was promoted whereas complaints concerning the incident to get together chiefs had been ignored.
Linden was nominated for choice to be a candidate within the Westminster election however, 4 days after the alleged incident in 2019, he introduced publicly he wouldn't be standing.
On the time he stated he needed to “re-focus on my necessary work regionally in council and by myself well being and wellbeing” however a number of sources have claimed the choice associated to the criticism.
The get together the place the incident is alleged to have taken place was on September 21, 2019, in a rented flat at Dundee’s Gourlay Yard. It got here after town’s annual Delight parade, with as much as 20 SNP members and LGBT and independence-supporting activists current.
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One activist claimed Linden “wouldn’t take no for a solution” and left the teenager “traumatised” afterwards.
They stated: “Most individuals had been having a pleasant time and some drinks after the Delight occasion. Jordan and [the victim] had been in a room collectively.
"It wasn’t till later I may see he was clearly uncomfortable and one thing had occurred.”
The subsequent day officers had been contacted on behalf of the younger sufferer, with the get together’s compliance officer Ian McCann understood to have reached out to the alleged sufferer a number of occasions.
A month later, issues had been raised with McCann and the get together’s then Nationwide Secretary, Angus MacLeod, that nothing had been accomplished concerning the criticism.
On the time Linden was a councillor with North Lanarkshire Council and the vice-convener of the SNP’s youth wing, Younger Scots for Independence.
It's the second time claims of this nature have been made in opposition to Linden. In 2017 he was pressured to face apart as a councillor whereas police investigated claims of sexual harassment on the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP).
Officers later stated that they had established no criminality. Linden stated the claims had been false, he had been cleared of wrongdoing throughout an inner probe and accused those that made the claims as “spreading lies about me and others”.
One activist with information of the 2019 allegation accused the get together of “wilful negligence” and stated individuals who report that they've been sexually harassed or assaulted within the SNP are usually not secure.
They stated: “They’ve let [the victim] down and so they’re exposing themselves to much more of those scandals as a result of the method for complaints is so poor.
"The entire system must be modified. You'll be able to’t have one man - Ian McCann - coping with each criticism when the membership is so massive.
"On this case Jordan shouldn’t have continued to be a councillor and he actually shouldn’t now be council chief with this criticism nonetheless unresolved.”
One other SNP member with information of the incident stated: “Nothing was accomplished, nothing occurred and Jordan was promoted to council chief. It’s not adequate and these incidents will simply hold occurring.
“Most individuals had been having a pleasant night time. There have been about 20 folks there.
"The man was very younger and fairly upset about what occurred. It’s extremely tough to talk up and lift issues and complain. The get together dealt with this badly - simply as they dealt with the Patrick Grady case badly.”
Approached by the Sunday Mail on Friday, when the allegations had been put to him, Linden admitted he was “probably” conscious of them however declined to talk any additional, asking for inquiries to be put in an e mail.
He failed to reply, whereas the SNP additionally refused to remark final night time.
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