Former Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) leader Jordan Linden flirted with its youngest member and told him he was ‘too young’ to have reached sexual maturity, a court has heard.

One of Linden’s alleged victims, who was 14 when he joined the SYP in 2015, said he was befriended online by the former youth parliament chairman and the conversation turned ‘increasingly flirtatious’ despite their age gap.

The man, now 25, was giving evidence in the trial of Linden who now denies 21 charges against 12 people, spanning an 11-year period. 

They date between 2011 and 2022, when Linden was a member of the (SYP), later becoming its chairman before going on to be the SNP leader in North Lanarkshire Council.

Giving evidence before Sheriff Christopher Shead, the man said he had initially found Linden ‘quite jovial’ but alleged their conversations became more sexual, with Linden inquiring about his dating life and sending ‘semi-regular’ images of himself via Snapchat. 

He claimed Linden would have ‘suggestive’ chats with him on Facetime, including one occasion where he is alleged to have told the teenager he was ‘too young to have an orgasm’.

The witness alleged there were ‘repeated and obsessive questions about whether I had a boyfriend’ and said it made him feel uncomfortable. 

He also claimed that at one SYP event Linden had cornered him in his hotel room with the teenager ‘really recoiling’ in discomfort.

He said: ‘He was standing over me, tickling or prodding me. He was saying “What are you going to do about it”, his arms were open wide and he was over me, intimidating me.’

At the time he was a ‘skinny’ 14-year-old while Linden was a ‘heavy-set and stocky’ 20-year-old, he claimed.

He told Falkirk Sheriff Court that at a later date an SYP board member, Thomas Mair, had praised Linden when he stepped down as SYP chairman, following concerns being raised by ‘other people who had more intense experiences’ with Linden.

He said: ‘There was a feeling that all of us had just made this up and he had not acted inappropriately towards any of us. I resented the suggestion that he had to step down unfairly.’

Another witness claimed he had received an image of Linden with a ‘bulge’ in his boxer shorts. 

He said that after the meeting where Linden was ‘thanked profusely’ for his service by Mr Mair, he worried about a ‘governmental cover-up’ as the alleged behaviours had not been addressed.

The witness said: ‘We’d been told that everything had been dealt with but we couldn’t see it… it was just a matter of “the adults have got it in hand”.

Sheriff Shead acquitted Linden, represented by David Moggach, KC, of three charges yesterday. 

The Crown withdrew charges of a breach of the peace, stalking, and sexual communication against one man after the witness admitted that he had not received any messages he was not happy to get. The trial continues.