Journalist's Harrowing Encounter While Investigating SNP Predator Jordan Linden
He sprinted towards me, his face obscured by a black mask with only a tiny slit revealing his menacing dark eyes. As he closed in, his gloved hands emerged from the pockets of his hoodie. I leapt into my car and sped away as his fists battered the back of the vehicle. This was my first terrifying encounter with Jordan Linden's associates.
The Confrontation in Bellshill
It was September 16, 2023, and I had driven to Bellshill in Lanarkshire to confront Linden, the former SNP council leader recently convicted of horrific sex abuses. I intended to question him about allegations of harassing and assaulting multiple young men and boys during his time in the SNP and Scottish Youth Parliament.
Knocking on his front door that afternoon, I expected no response or a curt dismissal. Instead, Linden's then-boyfriend answered with a snarl, claiming Linden had "moved out ages ago" despite the predator being clearly visible in the top floor window, crouching behind the windowsill to hide from me and my photographer.
When I introduced myself, Linden's boyfriend swore and slammed the door. As I sat in the car with the photographer, he stormed over screaming to "stop taking pictures" and threatened to "send someone" if we didn't leave. "Is that a threat?" I asked, prompting him to huffily march off.
The Hooded Assailant
About ten minutes later, my photographer pointed to a hooded young man approaching from across the estate. Initially, I thought nothing of it, but as he drew closer, I noticed his black gloves, hood drawn tight around his face, and a black snood-type scarf around his neck. The hairs on my neck prickled.
Just as I moved to get back in the car, he looked up, pulled the snood over his nose, revealing only his beady eyes, and bolted straight towards me. My heart pounded as I leapt into the car and slammed the door. The photographer sped onto the nearby roundabout, hoping we wouldn't crash, while the man whacked the side of the vehicle as we escaped.
This was my first experience of someone going to extreme lengths to protect Linden, a theme that would become familiar over the next three years of investigation.
Uncovering the Predatory Behaviour
I first learned about Linden's predatory behaviour in early July 2022, when a friend mentioned an incident in Dundee involving North Lanarkshire Council's new SNP leader and a young SNP activist years earlier. Through victim testimony, we now know this involved Linden locking the man in a bathroom, attempting to kiss him, and asking him to urinate in front of him—a sexual assault.
Speaking to contacts within the SNP, I discovered the party had been alerted to its fresh-faced council leader's behaviour in 2019 but took no apparent action. The only evidence of a problem was Linden quietly dropping his ambition to stand as an MP in the general election shortly after the incident.
When I contacted the SNP, detailing the incident and noting their compliance officer Ian McCann had been informed, they responded, "No complaint was lodged." It later emerged the SNP only classifies a complaint as such when the party decides it is one—hardly fair to complainers but convenient for the nationalist machine.
The Floodgates Open
My editor bravely ran the story with our evidence, and the floodgates opened. Linden quit as council leader three days later but remained an SNP councillor. Immediately after publication, SNP spin doctors briefed colleagues across the newspaper industry that my reporting was inaccurate and they were considering a complaint to press regulator IPSO.
In the following days, several young men contacted me, some later testifying in Linden's trial, detailing abuse while members of the Scottish Youth Parliament. I was shocked to hear these teenagers had raised issues with Youth Parliament staff, only to be called liars and dismissed as teenage gossip.
Thousands of pounds in taxpayer money were spent on a private law firm investigation into the complainers, not Linden, which he later used to claim he had been "cleared" of wrongdoing.
Continued Reporting and Political Fallout
I spoke to all the men who contacted me and continued writing about my discoveries, including that the SNP had been repeatedly warned about Linden but inexplicably kept promoting him. The SNP dismissed my reporting, eventually ignoring my requests for comment—mirroring how they ignored warnings about Linden's sordid character.
In March 2023, SNP North Lanarkshire councillors contacted me with another tale: councillor Cameron McManus alleged he was a victim of Linden's. He had raised fears with SNP group leader Tracy Carragher, but the organisation turned on him, disciplining supportive colleagues. They eventually left the SNP, forming a new party and becoming independent councillors.
After I wrote about Cameron's experience, Linden quit politics for good, likely hoping to end scrutiny of his heinous past. Cameron waived anonymity and reported to police in late March 2023; without his courage, Linden might not have been convicted.
The Path to Justice
After Cameron's report, police contacted me to ask if men I had written about would speak to them. Some agreed, and more victims emerged in Linden's charges when he appeared in court in January this year, arrested almost two years earlier in February 2024.
Police meticulously investigated, and prosecutor Alistair McDermid painted Linden as a malicious predator whose behaviour escalated with his political power. While this ordeal has been long and stressful for me, it pales compared to Linden's victims' wait for justice—up to 15 years in one case.
They endured years of hurt and frustration, yet when I revealed the guilty verdict last week, one man simply said, "Thank you for believing me."
