A SCOTTISH Tory council candidate admitted to making a revenge porn threat against his former girlfriend while he was a serving police officer, The National can reveal.
George Hall, now retired, was found not guilty of using the threat of releasing explicit photographs of Lynn Morrison as extortion after she allegedly falsely accused him of rape.
Hall, formerly a Constable with Grampian Police, admitted to detectives in 2006 he had made the threat – before the law was changed in 2017 to make threatening revenge porn a specific criminal offence.
Peterhead Sheriff Court heard that under interrogation by Det Sgt David Abel, the future Tory candidate said: “I threatened to show pictures of her. I had just been accused of raping her, so I was very angry and I threatened to do [show the pictures].”
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He had made the threat in response to Morrison allegedly threatening to falsely accuse him of rape when he tried to recoup money she owned him for a holiday.
Hall told the officers: “I was angry about the debt, I told her I needed the money for the kids’ holiday. She turned nasty, accused me of being a rapist so I returned the serve, to put it bluntly.”
When asked by investigators if he would have followed through on the threat, Hall replied: “No way, I have my dignity.”
Hall again found himself facing criminal allegations three years later, when he was charged with sexually assaulting a vulnerable man and a woman while a police officer.
He was suspended from Grampian Police following the allegations, but the Crown decided to drop the charges against Hall in 2010 after “careful consideration of all of the facts”. He denied the charges when he appeared before Aberdeen Sheriff Court in September 2009.
Hall now hopes to represent Peterhead South and Cruden for the Scottish Tories on Aberdeenshire Council.
Even though Hall was innocent on each occasion of any criminal offence, the historical allegations have sparked calls for parties to ensure they select only candidates of a “certain calibre” for May’s vote.
In a joint statement, Aileen Forbes, the manager of Grampian Women’s Aid and Dr Marsha Scott, the CEO of Scottish Women’s Aid, encouraged all parties to “consider carefully the message they send to survivors if they allow men of anything less than upstanding character to stand for them in this year’s vital local government elections”.
They said: “Officials at every level of local and national government have the opportunity and responsibility to advocate for the best interests of those they serve. The people of Scotland deserve to be able to trust their politicians with their rights and wellbeing. This is particularly true for women and children who’ve experienced domestic abuse, and who are so often let down by the systems of justice, protection, and welfare that our politicians shape.
“As such, it is only right that we expect a certain calibre of person to be considered acceptable when running for such trusted and influential roles within our society.
“Our vision is of a Scotland where women and children can live free of men’s violence and enjoy all of their human rights.
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“We know political parties across the spectrum in Scotland share that vision, and so we encourage them to consider carefully the message they send to survivors if they allow men of anything less than upstanding character to stand for them in this year’s vital local government elections.”
The Scottish Greens called for Hall to be dropped as a candidate. Maggie Chapman, the party’s MSP for the North East, said: “This man is clearly not fit to serve the communities of Peterhead South and Cruden, or anywhere else for that matter.
“It beggars belief that the Tories selected such a candidate in the first place.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “George Hall was found not guilty in a court of law. We respect Scotland’s justice system and the decisions it makes.”
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