Mail Online

SNP councillor gets 6 years for sexual abuse of teenage boys

By Grant McCabe

A FORMER SNP councillor who groomed and abused a string of teenage boys has been jailed for six years.

Mark Kerr was found guilty of nine offences against six victims, including the attempted rape of one boy at his home in Croy, Lanarkshire.

The 40-year-old, who represented the Kilsyth ward on North Lanarkshire Council, carried out the attacks over the decade up to May 2020. Most occurred before he was elected in 2017.

Kerr, now of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, had been found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow. He was sentenced yesterday at the High Court in Paisley.

Judge Douglas Brown told Kerr: ‘This was a systematic and deliberate course of conduct.

‘You spent time with teenage boys, tried to engage them in sexually charged conversations and took advantage of opportunities to assault them.

‘You took advantage of one of the boys while he was asleep and attempted to rape him.’

There were cries of ‘justice’ and ‘yes’ from victims and their relatives as Kerr was sentenced.

He was also put on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely,

Jurors previously heard how the first boy had looked upon openly gay Kerr as a ‘mentor’. He said sexual activity first took place at a disused quarry when he was 15.

The victim – who is now in his mid 20s – said the attempted rape took place while he was sleeping in Kerr’s home in 2015 after they had attended an SNP function. He later confronted Kerr at knifepoint in the street, yelling: ‘Tell my mum what you done to me.’

Kerr spoke to another boy about gay sex before grabbing the teenager’s bottom.

The court also heard how Kerr joined two boys on a camping trip, pitching a tent near the Boathouse restaurant in Kilsyth. He was found guilty of molesting one of them in the tent.

Kerr targeted another teenager by groping him and sending sexually graphic messages online. His last victim was molested at a food bank set up to help people during the 2020 lockdown.

In evidence, Kerr claimed he had been targeted after he drew attention to the dangers of boys playing at a disused quarry.

He told how he had been forced out of his home and branded the ‘local nonce’. But prosecutors said he had used his position to engage in sustained grooming of teenage boys for his gratification.

At his trial, Kerr was found not guilty of one sexual assault, while one charge of rape and another of engaging in sexual activity with a teenager were found not proven.

The court was yesterday told that a pre-sentencing report said Kerr lacked ‘remorse and empathy’ for the victims.

David Taylor, defending, said: ‘He tells me he regards sexual offending as abhorrent and in no way condones that behaviour. It is his view that he was not guilty.’

Detective Inspector Colin Moffat, of Police Scotland’s National Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: ‘Kerr was in a position of responsibility and trust as a local politician but he preyed on teenagers, one of whom he met at an official function. He befriended them and betrayed them.

‘Our thoughts are very much with his victims, and their bravery in coming forward is commended. I hope they now get some closure with his sentencing.’

‘Lacked remorse and empathy’

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2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/282046216123372

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