Fife councillor found guilty of sex offences involving teenage girl
According to the indictment the offences involved sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15.
The offences took place between February 11 and August 21 2023, and were committed at a variety of locations in the Fife and Edinburgh areas.
The 43-year-old was found guilty by a majority of one charge under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.
He is due to be be sentenced on August 19.
Commenting after Graham's conviction, Fife Council leader David Ross said the revelations at the trial had been 'truly shocking'.
The Labour councillor went on: 'This is appalling behaviour by anyone, let alone an elected councillor – and the sentence will reflect the seriousness of this case. Our sympathies go out to the young person involved.
'It is impossible to express how badly David Graham has let down his colleagues and the people he was elected to represent.
'I expect him to be expelled from the Labour Party with immediate effect'
Police Scotland Detective Inspector Graham Watson said: 'Graham is a manipulative individual who groomed and sexually abused his teenage victim.
'He was well-known and in a position of power when the offending took place.
'I would like to thank the female for her assistance in bringing him to justice.
'We remain committed to investigating all reports of sexual crime and would encourage anyone affected to report it.
'Every report is taken seriously and will be fully investigated, no matter how much time has passed, with support from our specially trained officers and partner agencies.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'Jeremy Corbyn's new party could be called Palestine Inaction - it has a certain ring to it'
Does Jeremy Corbyn want his new party to punish Labour, highlight injustice, or break new ground? Fleet Street Fox suggests some names to cover all the bases It's a difficult thing, picking a name for a political party. Labour arose from the trade union movement, which arose from the Chartists, and you can probably draw a line all the way back to the Peasants' Revolt. Yet its current membership, political leaders and voters have soft, white hands that have never laboured at much more than picking their noses. The Conservatives, if their name is accurate, want to keep things the same as they've always been. Only they've just presided over Brexit, the biggest constitutional, social and economic upheaval since the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Greens would be better known as the Rainbow Flag Warriors, the Liberal Democrats should really call themselves Combined Watersports and have done with it, and Reform UK is, well, more like Nigel Enterprises Ltd. Thanks to Jeremy Corbyn this is all about to get much harder, because he wants us ALL to have a go at naming the party he's setting up after finally splitting from Labour, which of course split from him some time ago. The obvious one, is therefore, Splitty McSplitface, in honour of the Great British Public's penchant for ridiculing the whole idea of voting for names of things which already ought to know what they're called. We could go with Peace, Love, & Understanding, but with his back catalogue of internal party rows it'd have the sketchwriters cackling with glee. Better, perhaps, to go with something less likely to highlight one's own failings, and points the finger instead at others. Calling the new party Keir Starmer's Not Very Good At This, Is He, would thoroughly tickle the nation's toes every time they issued a press release. If, on the other hand, Jezza really wants to cause the government a headache, he could opt for Palestine Inaction - having just declared its near-namesake a terror group, it would highlight the tectonic slowness of the official response to the horrors of Gaza, and at the same time make Home Secretary Yvette Cooper spit staples. It's certainly got a ring to it. If that's just a little too terrorist-y, there's always highlighting the authoritarian decision to outlaw environmentalists for the terrible crime of sitting down in inconvenient places. Must Stop Oil, Action on Sofas, Greenpolice: they're are all there for the taking. If he really wants to clean up British politics and lead a Left-wing insurgency, he could try calling it Reformed Reform UK. Although it's possible that the Electoral Commission will throw it out for being too similar to another party, and it'd have to be tweaked to Deformed UK. That probably wouldn't sell so well at the ballot box. Perhaps Jeremy has no interest in attacking other parties, and still has his head in the allotment. In which case, a name like Courgettes Have Feelings Too could be on the shortlist, along with Potato Justice and Co-Operative Jam Making. There is no substitute for making sure your party is of the now, ahead of the zeitgeist and with its finger on the pulse of what people really want. In which case, for broad media coverage and general public approval, the best name might well be Publish The Epstein Files, Ya Big Pervert. But let's be honest - the entire point of this party is not to win general elections, which Jeremy has twice proven is beyond him, nor to appeal to a broad church of otherwise-disaffected Britons. Because if he was capable of that, he wouldn't have lost. The only reason that he and fellow purgatory-adjacent MP Zarah Sultana have set up a new party is to cause problems for Labour, to split the vote, unbalance a centrist leadership, and give themselves a home they won't be evicted from for their host of unwelcome views, friends, and habits. And so there is only one possible name that will suit. One name, one vision: to piss off Keir. Which is why, Britain, when you are asked to come up with a title for the new iteration of Corbynmania, you must baptise it 'New Labour Ego Trip'. For nothing else comes close.
Telegraph
28 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Pelt shoplifters with fruit in stocks, Labour peer demands
Sir Keir Starmer must bring back the stocks so shoplifters can be pelted with rotten fruit, a Labour peer has demanded. Lord Glasman, the founder of the socially conservative Blue Labour group, said the historic form of punishment would act as a deterrent to the growing shoplifting epidemic. It comes after official figures showed that shoplifting hit a record high of 530,643 offences reported to police in the year to March, marking a 20pc year-on-year increase. The number of snatch thefts of mobile phones and bags also reached a 20-year high last year, with 99,000 devices grabbed from people by thieves. Lord Glasman told GB News: 'It's impossible to live in London without having your mobile phone getting nicked on the street out of your hand. That's palpable. 'I think we've got to think imaginatively about deterrence and punishment, I really do. This is vital. 'I'm quite in favour of public humiliation of these shoplifters, bringing back the stocks, pelting them with rotten fruit. The old ways are the good ways!' The peer went on to say he felt 'humiliated' when he had his own phone stolen, arguing there must be a form of 'counter-intimidation' for shoplifters and phone thieves. He added: 'I really think we've got to think about it. There is a will to get policemen back on the beat, to get them on the street but I think we've got to talk about alternatives to prison that are punishments. 'Certainly getting the rotten vegetables and fruit from the supermarket and people having a chance to express their disgust at what they've been through, I don't think that's such a bad idea.' Crime and Policing Bill Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is hoping to make it easier for police to break into the homes of phone thieves without a warrant if the victim has been able to track down their device. The changes form part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which cleared the Commons earlier this year and will soon have its second reading in the House of Lords. Lord Glasman has emerged as a staunch critic of Sir Keir's administration on a number of issues including human rights laws and mass migration. Earlier this month, he warned that Sir Keir had just six months to save his premiership and that the public would find out in that time whether the Prime Minister 'has got it or not'. Lord Glasman is viewed as an important voice in Labour and his wider political thinking is believed to have had a significant influence on Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff. In a speech at the Policy Exchange in May, Lord Glasman called on Sir Keir to lead a working-class 'insurrection' if he wanted to face off the threat of Nigel Farage and Reform UK. He has previously broken with Sir Keir's line on issues including the controversial deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius at a cost of £9bn a year, as well as the appointment of Lord Hermer as Attorney General.
BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Thanet District Council passes abusive language crackdown order
Thanet District Council (TDC) has passed a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour in the of the order, which also covers tourist hotspots such as Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs, makes it a fineable offence not to refrain from using foul and abusive language if requested by police or a council a cabinet meeting in Margate on Thursday, councillors blasted recent media reports that the authority was trying to enforce a blanket swearing ban, calling them "a mountain of nonsense".Labour councillor Heather Keen called the reports "disingenuous, inaccurate and designed to grab attention". "Let me be clear, Thanet is not banning swearing or preventing free speech," she said."The reference to foul and abusive language only applies if it is causing harassment, alarm or distress to another person - not if it is casual swearing."It was also stressed during the meeting that such a PSPO is not new, one having existed in the area since is it unique, with similar orders existing in places like Canterbury and Dartford, along with other parts of the country, the meeting in August 2024 TDC's attempts to renew and reword their PSPO was met with threat of a legal challenge from campaign group The Free Speech Union, which cited concerns about potential human rights then put the proposed amendments up for public consultation, and Keen described the measures of the new order as having received "overwhelming support" from local people and businesses. "Every year our residents tell us feeling safe is a top priority and we've listened to that," she said.A TDC spokesperson added: "The PSPO will become into force following the required legal notice period and signs will be displayed at key locations to explain the rules."Enforcement officers will engage with anyone found to be committing antisocial behaviour in the first instance, with fines issued only if the behaviour continues."
