Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Ex-council chief faces sex claims
THE former leader of a Scottish council has appeared in court accused of sexually assaulting two men in a Dundee flat.
Jordan Linden allegedly committed sexual offences against 12 complainers, including children, over a 10-year period.
Linden made no plea to the 17 charges when he appeared in private at Dundee Sheriff Court.
The EX-SNP politician previously served as the leader of North Lanarkshire Council before resigning from the post in 2022.
It is alleged that on September 21 2019, Linden sexually assaulted a man at an address on Gourley Yard in Dundee by sitting on his knee, placing his hand within his shirt and rubbing his naked chest before trying to rub his crotch area.
The same man was allegedly followed into a bathroom by Linden who allegedly locked the door.
Court papers state Linden, of Bellshill, requested the man urinate in front of him while trying to kiss his cheek and nibbling his ear.
Linden allegedly placed the legs of a second man on his knee and repeatedly tried to pull down his trousers and expose his underwear.
The 29-year-old allegedly tried to meet a child under the age of 16 for the purposes of sexual activity at a hotel in Renfrewshire in 2015.
Between 2015 and 2016, another person under the age of 16 was allegedly asked for sexual images over Snapchat by Linden.
He faces 15 allegations under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 and two charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and engaging in an abusive course of conduct. The offences were allegedly committed in Dundee, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverness, East Kilbride, Edinburgh, Orkney and Bellshill.
Linden was committed for further examination.