Simply abhorrent
Scottish student burns £20 in front of homeless man... and is banned by Tory association
A CAMBRIDGE student has been thrown out of the university’s Conservative Association after he was filmed burning a £20 note in front of a homeless man.
Ronald Coyne – who allegedly described himself as a nephew of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon but is actually a distant relative – was wearing white tie and tails when he mocked the man by destroying the banknote.
Footage taken on a mobile phone shows him standing near the man, outside an outdoor clothing shop, saying: ‘Some homeless shelter.’
Coyne, understood to be a firstyear law student at Pembroke College, was communications officer for the executive committee of Cambridge University’s Conservative Association (CUCA). The association – whose past chairmen include many Tory MPs, among them former Cabinet ministers Ken Clarke and Andrew Mitchell – was embroiled in scandal last year when the outgoing women’s officer complained she faced ‘open ridicule’ in her role from members and ‘aggressive sexism’.
Yesterday CUCA distanced itself from Coyne, saying he had not been to one of its events at the time of the incident and his resignation had been demanded, and tendered, within an hour of it coming to their attention.
A spokesman said: ‘The CUCA committee became aware of serious allegations against Ronald Coyne late last week concerning his private behaviour. There is no room for people who behave like that in our association, any other university association or, frankly, in our university.
‘This disgusting and abhorrent behaviour occurred completely independently of CUCA and did not take place before or after any CUCA event. His resignation was immediately demanded and we determined the appropriate response to be to permanently revoke his membership and bar him from all future events.’
The footage, taken by a bystander and uploaded to message sharing app Snapchat, was shot in the early hours of February 2. Coyne, who had earlier attended a dinner for students and their parents, is seen trying to light the note for a few seconds before it catches fire.
Another undergraduate told The Tab student newspaper: ‘I saw the videos of what he did and am utterly shocked and appalled that someone would do such a thing.’
Coyne’s mother, Sandra McLaughlin, 46, said last night that he had worked at a charity shop for the homeless while a schoolboy and she could not understand his behaviour.
He has since tried to make amends by helping the homeless in Cambridge.
Speaking from the family home in Livingston, West Lothian, she said: ‘I don’t really know why he’s done something so thoughtless and cruel. It’s completely out of character.
‘We’re just a normal family. We’re not toffs, he’s not a toff.
‘He’s been a hard-working student who is very, very lucky and aware of the privilege he has to study at Cambridge. He spoke to us after the event and said he’d done something very stupid and felt really bad about it.
‘He went out a few nights later around Cambridge with one of his friends to do the homeless run and give out tea, coffee and sandwiches to them. And this was before the Press and ourselves caught on to what he’d done. He’s a quiet boy, he wasn’t a wild teenager, he was in chess club at school.’
The Scottish Government issued a statement making it clear Coyne was not a direct relative of Miss Sturgeon.
A spokesman said: ‘He might go around saying he is her nephew but he’s not. She has no recollection of ever meeting him. Somewhere along the line his dad is the brother of the ex-husband of the sister of the First Minister’s husband.’
George Clarke, founder of homeless charity Embrace Cambridge, said: ‘There is a disturbing precedent for intoxicated Cambridge students abusing rough sleepers in the city. But as well as calling out this disgrace-
‘Disgusting behaviour’ ‘My son is a quiet boy’
ful behaviour wherever we find it we can and should remember that there is a real heart for charity at this university too.’
Burning a £50 note in front of a homeless person is rumoured to be one of the traditional initiation ceremonies at Oxford’s notorious Bullingdon Club, of which former prime minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson were members.
The university would not comment on an individual case but added: ‘We expect our students to treat others with respect, courtesy and consideration at all times, and the University takes allegations of unacceptable behaviour very seriously.’
Coyne could not be contacted for comment.