A convicted paedophile co-wrote a taxpayer-funded guide on coming out’ as transgender for children as young as 13.
Andrew Easton, 39, was snared by cybercrime officers over internet chats with someone he believed to be a vulnerable 13-year-old he called ‘baby boy’.
Easton, who was convicted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month, helped to produce a guide for LGBT Youth Scotland (LGBTYS), which receives thousands of pounds from the Scottish Government and local authorities.
He contributed to an early version of ‘coming out’ guidance issued by the controversial organisation, whose former chief executive James Rennie is serving life for sexually assaulting a baby boy.
Schools, local authorities, the Care Inspectorate and government-run health and social care authorities have been given an updated version but LGTBYS admits the original guide, co-written by Easton, may still be in use.
A convicted paedophile co-wrote a taxpayer-funded guide on coming out’ as transgender for children as young as 13 (file image)
Easton, who was convicted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court (pictured) last month, helped to produce a guide for LGBT Youth Scotland (LGBTYS), which receives thousands of pounds from the Scottish Government and local authorities
Last night Tory MSP Meghan Gallacher said: ‘This is a deeply disturbing situation it is long overdue that we audit just how much public money this organisation receives and seek assurances over what safeguarding assessments are in place.’
Easton of Kennethmont, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire, distributed 32 video files featuring children aged between four and eight years old, to other paedophiles.
He was handed a Community Payback Order with supervision for three years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and will remain on the sex offenders register for three years.
Educational psychologist Carolyn Brown told the Sunday Post that the guidance is full of ‘misinformation’ which she branded ‘manipulative and influencing’.
LGBTYS was contacted for comment. A statement on its website says Easton ‘has never been, at any point, an employee or volunteer with LGBTYS’.
It said: ‘We condemn anyone that exploits or harms young people.’
The Scottish Government said education authorities are responsible for ensuring visitors undergo disclosure checks and LGBTYS’s safeguarding policy is an opera- tional matter for the organisation.
