A former SNP Equalities Officer who said he wanted to “beat the f—” out of gender critical feminists is a “dangerous” predator, prosecutors have said after he was jailed for a series of sexual assaults. The Telegraph has more.
Cameron Downing, who was an official in the SNP’s London branch, was sentenced to six years in prison at the High Court in Edinburgh.
He was convicted of sexually assaulting six young adults and physically assaulting two women.
The 24-year-old targeted his victims at addresses in the Edinburgh, Glasgow and Falkirk areas between Hogmanay in 2016 and April 2021.
Downing was also found guilty of domestic abuse, which involved conduct spanning several months, where he threatened to falsely accuse a former partner of raping him.
He said he would tell the man’s friends, family and employers before blackmailing the victim to be in a sexual relationship with him.
Downing, who identifies as non-binary, has been pictured at an SNP conference with Nicola Sturgeon, the former Scottish first minister, and took part in a Pride march alongside Karen Adam, the SNP MSP and convenor of Holyrood’s equalities committee. There is no suggestion they were aware of his wrongdoing.
His conduct online has been criticised by J.K. Rowling, after he wrote on Twitter that he wanted to “beat the f— out of some terfs and transphobes”. He also tweeted “I f—ing hate terfs and transphobes with such a passion”.
“Terf” is an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist”, a slur for women such as Rowling who do not believe that men who claim to identify as women are literally female, and who want to protect single-sex spaces.
Police Scotland launched an investigation into his conduct, which started when he was only 16. He denied any wrongdoing during his trial, saying he had been battling “complex” health problems at the time of the abuse.
However, Downing, of Willowbrae, Edinburgh, was convicted last month and returned to the dock on Tuesday for sentencing.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.