Spiritualist in expenses scandal bids for council return

A FORMER Labour politician who quit politics in a major expenses scandal has been confirmed as a party candidate for May’s local elections.

Gary Gray, one of Scotland’s most prominent spiritualists, has been selected to contest a ward in the north of Glasgow over a decade after he resigned over his cash claims.

A spiritualist since the age of nine, who has claimed to have communicated with John F Kennedy from beyond the grave, he stood down in late 2005 after The Herald’s sister title, The Evening Times, revealed he had claimed more than £8,000 in subsistence and mileage.

Mr Gray, who will seek election in the Canal Ward in May after being selected by party colleagues, was also under investigation by public sector watchdogs when he quit.

He has insisted he was a suitable candidate and claimed when he stood he was suffering from ill health as well as being targeted because of his spiritualist beliefs.

Mr Gray’s selection comes as the SNP puts forward a charity finance chief whose business website claimed he was a direct descendent of George III for election in Ayrshire.

Stephen Brown, the treasurer at Citizens Advice Scotland, had purchased the title Lord Glencoe and called himself Lord Yerton, stating his lineage to the Hanoverian monarch had “recently been verified by DNA analysis”.

One source said: “Questions are being asked of how the SNP got itself into the position where he’s been selected as a candidate.”

Mr Gray, 43, has been involved in a number of high-profile psychic investigations with UFO expert Ron Halliday.

In 2015 the pair claimed to have uncovered evidence of fairies living within the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh.

He said: “When I stood down I had problems with my health and was targeted over my spiritualist beliefs. We need to have local candidates and local people need someone they can relate to. I’m going into this election to win.

“I am a fit and proper person to hold public office and these were legitimate expenses and I resigned also because of the pressures on my family.”

Mr Brown said he was a suitable candidate.