Councillor went to police after SNP 'downplayed' politician complaints, court hears

A councillor told a jury he went to the police after the SNP “downplayed or ignored” his complaints about the behaviour of one of the party’s leading politicians.

He said Jordan Linden had climbed into his bunk and caressed him at a youth hostel in Barcelona while he, Linden, and other members of Young Scots for Independence, the youth wing of the SNP, were in Spain for a Catalonian national day event in September 2016.

The man, then 18, was giving evidence at Falkirk Sheriff Court on the fourth day of the trial of Linden, now 30.

The man said Linden was working or volunteering at the time for an SNP MSP.

He said of the incident: “In the aftermath of one of the nights out we all sort of raced each other back and Mr Linden and I were first and went pretty much straight to bed. Then in the night Mr Linden came into the top bunk beside me.

“His presence woke me up. He was sort of cuddling me from behind, sort of spooning, moving his arms up and down my legs and my stomach.

“He started just above the knee and sort of caressed up the way, cutting into the stomach in a continuous motion.

“There were a few attempts to kiss my neck. His lips made contact with my neck. It was as if he was trying to get longer kisses.”

The man said he tried to push Linden away and told him to stop, but Linden carried on for “a couple of minutes”, which felt longer.

The man said he felt “kind of unsafe and insecure” as a result, but tried to forget it and get on with the trip.

He said Linden said rose over the next few years from being an SNP group assistant business manager to being North Lanarkshire council leader and “was always trying to be over-friendly”.

The man said he went on to be elected as a councillor, and tried to dress smartly for the position, but before or after meetings Linden regularly made comments about his suit trousers or his tops being “tight” on him.

He said: “I started to modify the way I dressed as a result of the comments Mr Linden was making.”

He said he felt, overall, that he could not play a full part in his job as a councillor as a result.

He told prosecutor Alistair McDermid that in 2023 he went into Wishaw police station to report Linden’s conduct because he “did not feel confident” that internal reports he had made within the party from 2022 onwards would be dealt with appropriately.

He said: “Everywhere I went for help in the SNP I was ignored or it was downplayed.”

Linden, from Bellshill, denies 21 charges of sexual assault, stalking, sexual communication and statutory breach of the peace, against seven boys and five young men aged between 14 and 22 over 11 years between 2011 and 2022.

The trial, before Sheriff Christopher Shead and jury, continues.