The Scottish National Party use a saying, “it’s not where you come from that is important, but where you are going”, one of Alex Salmond’s former employees Alex MacLeod who got into public office using fraud is facing a jail sentence, his destination on May 14 should be prison for 6 months

Dear All

Some time, ago, I did a post on Alex MacLeod; he became Scotland’s youngest councillor when he was elected in 2012 for the SNP. On the surface, he ticked the right boxes in Nationalist camp. Alex MacLeod worked for Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond and was appointed a parliamentary assistant to SNP MSP Rob Gibson. As well as that he was a campaign manager for Rob Gibson. But what wasn’t on the CV was that Alex MacLeod decided to enter public office by fiddled his election expenses.

A couple of years down the line, he later appeared in court after an anonymous tip-off that he had falsifying his expenses and conducting his election campaign by fraud.

What I find interesting about this sordid and squalid little affair is two things, firstly if he hadn’t cheated, he probably would have won fair and square, and secondly after getting caught, some people apparently backed him.

MacLeod spent three times the legal maximum on his campaign, by his deceit; he effectively robbed every decent person standing against him, the opportunity of having an equal chance in a free and fair election. MacLeod committed election fraud by altering invoices and failing to submit others between March 22 and May 2, 2012 to win victory in the Landward Caithness seat.

The Scottish National Party as I have kept saying is a ‘rat ship’; it is a party within a party.

When MacLeod was convicted, he boldly declared that he wanted to “repay his debt to society”. It seems however that although people in the SNP are deeply concerned with other people keeping their ‘vows’, they don’t think that should apply to them. He was spared a custodial jail sentence at the time because of the supposed remorse he had shown at the trial.

His sentence was that he was ordered to do 160 hours of community service; standing on the steps of the Court he delivered a speech at Inverness Sheriff Court.

MacLeod said:

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to repay the significant debt I owe to society and offer my constituents closure. This was a crime against the public and the sentence of doing work for the public fits the crime.”

Personally, I think his arse should be thrown in a jail cell for about six months.

At Tain Sheriff Court it has now emerged MacLeod had ignored the community payback order, you know how it is, you get busy.

What happened to I am looking forward to the opportunity to repay the significant debt I owe to society?

Gordon Fleetwood sitting judgment of MacLeod took the opportunity to refresh his memory of the comments MacLeod made last year.

The sheriff told the court:

“He said he would repay his debt to society, and he has ignored this order. He had the opportunity to stay out of custody, so I will revoke the order and call for a background report to see what other options there are.”

I would strongly suggest that the option is jail for six months, that way MacLeod wouldn’t have to worry about pressing commitments. Sheriff Fleetwood told MacLeod, that his offence was “a gross breach of public trust”.

Jail for six months, well it is a gross breach of public trust doing the offence plus you now have to add in the ‘fuck you’ factor in sticking up two fingers to the sentence.

MacLeod, 22, of 8 Hay Place, Elgin, was released on bail and will learn his fate on May 14.

Presumably, given MacLeod’s interest in politics this will give him an opportunity to exercise his democratic right to vote.

His solicitor Eilidh Macdonald asked the sheriff to allow him to complete the community service. Does that mean that Alex MacLeod has suddenly found some free time in his schedule which he will graciously free up?

MacDonald added

“He handed himself in to answer this breach. The report does not make good reading. He failed to observe the order and the reasons he gives are problems with his work schedule and some health problems. Clearly he has had an issue accepting that he has to comply with this order. Those were fine words he spoke when he was sentenced but he now means to complete the hours required of him. I have clearly spelt out the alternative for him and he now understands if he does not comply, he will go to jail. He is frightened of that.”

Frightened of jail?

Free bed and board, free dental, free medical, free education, no gas and electric bills, no council tax, free TV, plenty of spare time for reading, free gym, but sadly there is no swimming pool. 

If Alex Salmond’s former employee Alex MacLeod hadn’t been caught, given his closeness to the SNP leadership, he would have possibly ended up standing this year to be an MP for Westminster, or failing that perhaps as a candidate to replace Rob Gibson when he stepped down for Holyrood.

In politics, due to the nature of it, you have to play it straight all the way down the line, you are legally required to do this, but you have an ethical responsibility as well not just to the party you are standing for, but to the people who give up their free time to assist you. Alex MacLeod cheated the people who stood against him, he cheated the voters and he also cheated those who helped him to achieve public office.

They were obviously unaware they had been duped, probably because they aren’t part of the SNP clique.  

Alex MacLeod is a rat who deserves jail time, he was offered a chance to repay his debt to society and decided to stick two fingers up to the Court.

May 14^th, the sentence should be prison for six months.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University