Heartbroken
Sex pest victim says SNP has let him down after complaint against second MP is not upheld
A STAFFER who accused SNP MP Patricia Gibson of sexual misconduct in a bar is “heartbroken” the complaint was not upheld.
The man, who claimed Gibson had pestered him to “s**g” her, blasted the Westminster authorities after they bungled their probe into the claims.
It also emerged Gibson had been drunk at the time of the alleged incident and was “unable confidently to recall” her exact words or actions.
The staffer had alleged that two SNP MPs, Gibson and Patrick Grady, separately harassed him in London.
The Grady complaint was upheld last week following a probe by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) in the Commons.
However, despite investigators initially upholding a complaint against Gibson, an appeal to an Independent Expert Panel (IEP) overturned this.
The complainer had alleged Gibson stroked his arm and back through his clothes, in Westminster’s Stranger’s Bar, and asked him to “come home and s**g me”.
The complainer said: “I am heartbroken that the ICGS, like the SNP, have let me and other victims of harassment down.
“Following their weak sanction against Patrick Grady, they have now concluded that they did not investigate my complaints into Patricia Gibson in a fair way.
“Due to the ICGS failures in this case, an erosion of trust between staff and the Westminster watchdog will have caused confidence in the process to be at an all-time low.
“There is nowhere left for staff like myself to turn to and have full confidence in the process.
“The ICGS have failed to investigate properly and the SNP have admitted their procedures are not fit for purpose and have ordered a review into that. I reported the incident with Patricia the next day and to my line manager Patrick Grady, who did nothing about it.
“Perhaps if the SNP had a chief whip at the time who hadn’t sexually harassed a staff member, the matter could have been dealt with properly.
“Unfortunately, due to the ICGS and SNP failures, that scenario is no longer possible.”
In finding in favour of Gibson, the IEP blamed the initial investigation: “The sub-panel have concluded that the investigator placed too much weight on the complainant’s perception that the touching was sexual.
“Had the investigator applied the test correctly, then she would have taken account of perceptions of all of the witnesses and may have come to a different conclusion. The sub-panel consider that the investigator’s failure to apply the appropriate test, when considering behaviour of a sexual nature, affected the decision made by the Commissioner.”
The IEP report said Gibson had admitted she was “intoxicated” at the time but “would not have stroked the complainant in the manner alleged and would never have used the word ‘s**g’” or propositioned her accuser.
A House of Commons spokesperson said: “In this instance, the investigation did not meet our high standards and we apologise for this.”
In an BBC interview yesterday, Blackford raised the tragedy of Welsh politician Carl Sargeant, who killed himself while facing allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
He said he had a duty of “pastoral care” to MPs and said: “Let’s not forget that it’s not that long ago that a member of the Welsh Parliament committed suicide on the back of an incident not so dissimilar from this.”