A FORMER Conservative councillor who was convicted of sexual assault has been suspended on full pay for a year.
Alan Donnelly, who resigned as a Tory but resisted calls to step down from Aberdeen City Council, denied kissing and touching a man working at an event in the city but was found guilty last year.
The councillor was put on the sex offenders’ register and ordered to pay his victim £800 compensation.
The Standards Commission has ruled Donnelly breached the code of conduct and faces a year’s suspension, backdated to March to cover the interim suspension which was initially imposed.
READ MORE: Sex-offender councillor 'jet setting across the globe' while suspended on full pay
Aberdeen City Council said in a statement following the ruling: "We note the decision of the Standards Commission. Councillor Donnelly will remain suspended for one year.
"While suspended, councillor Donnelly will continue to receive his full pay. This is a legal requirement and not a decision of the council."
Last month The National reported that while suspended on full pay Donnelly had taken holidays to Cyprus, Spain, Gibraltar and Germany.
Between March and September the councillor, who represents the Torry/Ferryhill ward, enjoyed several European holidays while receiving his basic annual pay of £17,854.
An SNP source in Aberdeen said: “The people of Aberdeen will be rightly furious to learn that while suspended, on full-pay from the public purse, this ex-Tory councillor has been jet setting across the globe.
“His disregard for the public knows no bounds."
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