Mark Kerr 42

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 A shamed former SNP councillor is behind bars after being convicted of grooming and abusing six teenage boys.

Mark Kerr preyed on victims including attempting to rape one at his home in Croy, Lanarkshire. The 40 year-old struck mostly before he was elected as a councillor in 2017 for the Kilsyth ward.

But, he went on to grope the final victim at a food bank in the village in May 2020. Kerr was eventually arrested following a police probe into the abuse.

He denied the accusations during a near two-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Kerr said he was the victim of a vendetta which saw him hounded out of his home of 32 years and wrecked his political career.

In often graphic detail, he insisted he was physically unable to do some of what was alleged claiming he was "a 40 year-old virgin". But, prosecutors said he was a "predator - hiding in plain sight".

Kerr was today found guilty of a total of nine charges spanning between December 2010 and May 2020. The crimes were the attempted rape as well as sex offences against the five other male victims.

He was found not proven of raping one and not guilty for a separate sexual assault against another of the six. Kerr was also found not proven of engaging in sexual activity with the teenager he was convicted of attempting to rape.

The first offender was visibly upset in the dock as the verdict was read out. Judge Douglas Brown told him: "Inevitably there will be a custodial sentence - your bail has been withdrawn and you will be remanded in custody."

Kerr was also put on the sex offenders register meantime. He will be sentenced next month.

Jurors heard how all the boys in the case were much younger than the former nationalist politician. Kerr, now of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, got to know the first when he was in his mid-teens.

The then boy looked upon openly gay Kerr as a "mentor" as he came out himself. He said sexual activity with Kerr first took place at a disused quarry when he was 15.

The victim - now in his mid 20s - said the older man then attacked him after they had earlier been at a local SNP function. He was asleep at the time at Kerr's home.

Describing the 2015 attempted rape, he recalled: "I froze once I understood what was happening. I could not control my body. It did not allow me to do anything."

Jurors heard how he later confronted Kerr at knifepoint in the street. The victim's mother had also turned up and she witnessed her son yelling: "Tell my mum what you done to me."

Kerr claimed he was innocent, but was said not to be able to meet the woman's eyes. Kerr tormented another boy from around 2012.

Referring to lurid accounts of gay sex, he stated to the youngster: "Don't knock it until you have tried it." He went on to grab the worried teenager's bottom.

The court heard Kerr joined two boys on a camping trip pitching a tent near the Boathouse restaurant in Croy. He was guilty of molesting one of them in the tent, but acquitted of raping another at that time.

However, he did sexually assault the rape accuser in 2014 in Croy while he was asleep. In 2014, Kerr targeted another of the teenagers by groping him and sending him sexually graphic messages online.

But, even after he had been elected to a position of power in the community, Kerr continued his offending. His last young victim was molested at a food bank set up to help people during the 2020 lockdown.

He told the trial: "I thought he was a nice guy. I do not see that now."

Kerr gave evidence during the trial and claimed he had been targeted after he had put a video of boys playing at a local disused quarry on his councillor Facebook page.

He said this was done purely to warn parents of the dangers. Kerr sobbed as he told how he had been filmed being forced out of his home by locals and branded the "local nonce".

But, in his speech to jurors, prosecutor Michael Macintosh said Kerr was "a predator hiding in plain sight". Mr Macintosh added: "You might come to the conclusion that behind the public persona, that friend to all, he was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"A lot of people thought he was a good guy, but he was a man who used his position, age and role as an activist and mentor to engage in sustained grooming of teenage boys for his gratification."

Sentencing was deferred for reports.