A child molester, Andrew Easton Huntly Paedophile, who admitted sharing thousands of disturbing images of children, including newborn babies, co-authored a “coming out guide” championed by Scottish schools.
Andrew Easton, 39, was snared by cybercrime officers over internet chat logs with someone he believed to be a vulnerable 13-year-old he called “baby boy”. Andrew Easton, who was convicted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last week, co-wrote the guide for the charity LGBT Youth Scotland, which receives millions of pounds from the Scottish Government and local authorities.
LGBT Youth Scotland boasts they have “trained” thousands of teachers in LGBT inclusivity. Schools, local authorities, the Care Inspectorate and government-run health and social care authorities made the guide available to children aged 13.
LGBT Youth Scotland attempted to distance themselves from Andrew Easton, who demanded to be called “daddy” and used secure messaging to send messages to his schoolboy victim and photographs of his private parts.
Dr Mhairi Crawford, chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, said: “We were afflicted to learn of Mr Andrew Easton’s criminal actions. We condemn anyone who exploits or harms young people. He was a member of one of our youth groups until 2009, and during that time, he contributed to a ‘coming out guide’ published in 2010.”
In one chat, Andrew Easton has reminded his “victim” was just 13 years old, but he continued exchanging photographs, urging “Send more, baby boy!”.
Cybercrime officers discovered 32 video files, many of which were of the most severe category A and featuring children aged between four and eight years old, had been distributed to other paedophiles by Easton.
Despite the sexual images Andrew Easton was sharing with others being of the highest category, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin failed to jail him.
Andrew Easton, of Kennethmont, Huntly, is subject to a community payback order with supervision for three years and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. He will remain on the sex offenders register for three years.
Scottish Conservative MSP Meghan Gallacher said: “This is an alarming situation. It is long overdue that we audit just how much public money this organisation receives and seek assurances over what safeguarding assessments are in place.”.
The coming out guide, which Andrew Easton contributed to, states: “Transgender people are people whose gender identity – who they are internally or their ‘innate’ gender – is different to their physical body or the gender they were assigned at birth.”
The ideology has been dismissed by one of the UK’s most respected paediatricians, Dr Hilary Cass, whose recent report led to England and Scotland reversing decisions to prescribe gender-changing drugs to children.
Alba MSP Ash Regan said: “Serious questions must be asked about why Scottish children’s educational guidance is being shaped by unqualified lobby groups that not only overreach their published remit but operate without any apparent oversight.”
The Scottish Government said education authorities are responsible for ensuring visitors undergo disclosure checks, and LGBT Youth Scotland’s safeguarding policy is an operational matter for the organisation. It said: “The Coming Out Guide, published in 2010, is not a Scottish Government publication. The Scottish Government cannot comment on individual criminal cases.”
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