Former SNP North Lanarkshire Council leader accused of series of sex offences against teens and men

A former top SNP politician is to face trial accused of a catalogue of offences against eight males aged under 18, and five young men – following complaints about his behaviour at a Gay Pride event.

Jordan Linden, 30, denies 25 charges of sexual assault, stalking, sexual communication and statutory breach of the peace spanning a period of over 11 years.

They include an allegation that Linden, former leader of North Lanarkshire Council, made “sexual advances” towards a 14-year-old boy at a hotel in Renfrewshire.

He is alleged to have entered the boy’s hotel room, forced the youngster into a corner as he backed away and stood over him, opening his arms intimidatingly.

Linden faces six charges of sexual assault against five different victims at a number of locations, including North Lanarkshire Council Headquarters in Motherwell, a hotel in Airdrie, Glasgow, Bellshill, Edinburgh and Dundee.

The alleged victims are said to have been aged between 15 and 22.

Linden’s lawyers have lodged objections to the way some of the charges are framed, including one which suggests the youngest sexual assault victim could have been anywhere between 15 and 19 at the time he was allegedly attacked.

Linden is accused of having sexually assaulted two of the alleged victims while they were asleep and unable to give consent.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday that the charges followed a police inquiry that began after allegations about his behaviour at the Dundee Pride celebration in 2019.

Prosecutor Alistair McDermid said: “As far as the police are concerned, the investigation effectively stems from incidents said to have occurred at and surrounding Dundee Pride.”

Linden is said to have sexually assaulted two young men, aged 18 and 19, in Dundee on the day of the Pride event on September 21, 2019.

He is alleged to have followed the 18-year-old into a bathroom, locking the door, and asking him to urinate in front of him, before trying to kiss his cheek and bite his ear.

The sexual assault of the 19-year-old is said to have involved Linden placing his legs on his knee and repeatedly trying to pull down his trousers to expose his underwear.

Linden, of Bellshill, faces several charges of communicating indecently with males aged from 14 years old by sending them graphic sexual material, including partially-naked selfies.

He pled not guilty to all charges. The court was told his jury trial was likely to last two weeks.

Mr McDermid, the depute fiscal, said Falkirk had been chosen as a convenient court, as many of the trial witnesses would be travelling from the west of Scotland and Edinburgh.

Ten of the charges allege Linden was involved in stalking his victims, including tracking one of them using his online location and demanding he send pictures of himself from the gym.

Linden, who stood down as North Lanarkshire Council leader in 2022, has lodged a special defence of consent in relation to four of the 25 charges.

The Crown has also given notice that it intends to lead evidence outwith 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.

Linden is alleged to have started his offending by sending sexual communications, including pictures of his genitals and making indecent phone calls, to a teenager, then aged between 15 and 19, over a period of three and a half years.

He is accused of stalking the same teenager, making sexual advances and sexually assaulting him during the same period by trying to cuddle, kiss and touch him, tickle him and pull his belt from his waistband.

Another boy, who was 16 at the time, was allegedly sent partially naked images of Linden and asked inappropriate questions by him at locations including a London hotel

A complainer – aged between 16 and 18 – is named in three charges including allegations that Linden sent him pictures of his genitals and stalked him by making sexual advances towards him.

Linden is also alleged to have repeatedly stared at him in a Slater Menswear store when the victim was aged between 22 and 23.

A youth – who was 17 or 18 – was allegedly sent graphic images and sexually assaulted in a Premier Inn in Edinburgh. Linden is alleged to have stalked him and acted in a threatening way by staring at him and trying to barge into him in the Apple Store in Glasgow.

Around the same time, he is alleged to have stalked and sent indecent images to another boy, aged between 16 and 17, from an address in Bellshill.

Another male was 18 when Linden is alleged to have started a course of conduct against him in January 2016. Between then and February 2023, he is alleged to have stalked him at the Motherwell Civic Centre and changed his online profile photograph and security picture without permission.

Linden is alleged to have sexually assaulted a complainant aged 21 in August 2018 by carrying out a sex act upon him while he was asleep and unable to consent. He is alleged to have carried out a second sex attack upon him a month later, before stalking him and making claims that he was homosexual.

The final male alleged victim was 18 in 2021 when Linden allegedly stalked him by sending him messages, tracking him online, demanding gym pictures, and phoning him.

Sheriff Christopher Shead continued the case for trial on March 16.

Advocate Kevin Jarvis, for Linden, asked for, and was granted, a pre-trial hearing, which was set for February 4.

Mr Jarvis said: “A number of the charges appear to take exceptional latitude [of dates] which there is no particular basis for.”

Linden became a councillor for the Bellshill ward during the 2017 local elections.

He was elected leader of the council in May 2022 but resigned from the post a few weeks later when allegations against him emerged.

He initially continued serving as a councillor but resigned from both the council and the SNP.