Unmasked, Nicola Sturgeon’s independence ‘ally’ Thomas Ball pleads guilty at his criminal trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court; Ball ran a malicious hate campaign to accuse me of being a ‘known paedophile’, people very close to Nicola Sturgeon joined the twitter hate account as followers, SNP MP Natalie McGarry linked the hate account to my blog, these people aren’t social justice campaigners, the truth is out now!

Dear All

Thomas Ball, named as one of the seven worst cybernats in the UK by the Daily Mail has pled guilty in a criminal trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday.

I was the victim of an organised and researched hate campaign by him on Twitter using a fake account setup in my name, using my picture and linking to my blog.

First, time for a quote that Tommy Ball made on his twitter account @georgemlaird:

George Laird ‏@GeorgeMLaird 8 Jul

“Standing at the window Willy in hand, staring at weans George is not normal”.

I was branded a paedophile!

In my youth, I used to teach children, when I went to Glasgow University, I used to teach young people, I was an established figure among the student population. Although some of the staff disliked me, the student body I taught were fiercely loyal to me, and when I had bad times, they, to a man and woman helped me. It was this friendship which kept me at Glasgow University for the best part of 20 years.

The above tweet; is one of many by Thomas Ball, an example how he sought not just to destroy my future but also tarnish the charity work of my past. I am proud of the students I taught and what they achieved during and after university. Some went to the Olympics, some to the Air force, the Police, the Prison Service, the Army (Sandhurst) and others became successful dentists, doctors, scientists, fitness instructors and even airline pilots.

It would be helpful I feel for people to know some of the timeline regarding Thomas Ball’s activities, and some others who I named in my criminal witness statement to Police Scotland.  

If you think back to 2012, you will remember that the press ran with a story regarding comments made by Thomas Ball regarding British soldiers. At that time, I like him was a member of the Scottish National Party. After reading what he wrote, I contacted him to tell him that as 6 British soldiers had been murdered in Afghanistan he should remove his comments out of respect for the soldiers and their families.

I was civil and I was polite, although I didn’t know him well, I thought as we had campaigned together, he would see the wider picture of what he was doing was wrong. So when he out of the blue started to attack me online, it was a surprise. In a hateful rant against me, he made accusations regarding what the people in the SNP allegedly thought of me.

A simple request for him to show respect quickly escalated by his actions, I decided then that I would ‘out him’ to the press. I contacted a number of news agencies, and twitter being what twitter is, the story gained traction and the press, public and politicians all jumped into condemn him.

After I attended the BBC Big Debate, Thomas Ball took to his blog to make further allegations against me, laughing at my pro nuclear Faslane stance and pro NATO.

He said I should be pitied, but should I?

Not long afterwards the SNP went ‘on paper’, pro NATO, personally I thought their change of heart was bullshit, and still do. Anyway, I noticed on his blog a picture, the picture was of Herbert the Pervert, a character in a TV show called Family Guy which I never watched.

Herbert in the cartoon was a paedophile; the photo was doctored to add a beard and rucksack, when I looked at it, I thought someone is crap at using photo shop or some other software programme. It was then pointed out to me what Herbert represented, so I wrote a blog post on Ball and produced a video; it’s the one with the lightsaber which is available to view on youtube.

Thomas Ball wanted to humiliate me but instead I took his photo shop crap and showed I was more talented than him.

In law when someone makes false allegations against you, you have the right of reply or retort, so I produced little videos, the purpose of which was to convey a simple message, Tommy Ball is a liar. Since he couldn’t win the argument or match my videos, he just went down the road of continual abuse. Of course, it has to be said, it wasn’t just me, Jim Murphy; the former Labour MP was also in the firing line since he was widely quoted in papers like the Daily Telegraph and elsewhere re British Soldiers story.

In January 2013, Thomas Ball sets up the twitter account @georgemlaird; I found the account by accident doing a twitter search. As soon as it opened, two people immediately joined it, Shona McAlpine; Office Manager of SNP MSP Humza Yousaf and Jonathan Mackie, Office Manager of SNP MP Chris Stephens, Stephens’ wife also joined the hate account as a follower, along with Anniesland SNP.

On the 20^th June, the SNP MP Natalie McGarry helped facilitate the abuse by using her own twitter account:

Natalie McGarry ‏@nataliemcgarry20 Jun

I've made it! At last I've been designated non-Jedi by the great sage that is @georgemlaird Want a laugh? Here ya go:

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/scottish-independence-natalie-mcgarry.html?m=1 …

The article I wrote was why Natalie McGarry was wrong about the Conservatives joining the SNP to win independence, it wasn’t offensive, it was an opinion that Conservatives big thing in Scotland is that they are British.

So, why did SNP MP Natalie McGarry assist Thomas Ball?

About circa a week later after McGarry linked my blog to Thomas Ball’s fake hate account in my name, Natalie McGarry was socialising with Thomas Ball, also present was Jonathan Mackie, now the Office Manager of SNP MP Chris Stephens.

When you go online, you leave a trail, when I went to Police Scotland; I was able to tell them of my belief that @georgemlaird was Thomas Ball. So, how did I work that out, well it was quite easy, I had help, despite Ball thinking he was clever stuck behind his anonymous @georgemlaird persona, he left a trail a blind man could follow.

Later, the IP address came to light, again helped by Thomas Ball, caught up in his own cleverness.

If you think back to one of my retort videos, I wrote regarding Thomas Ball:

“Stupid and ignorant; unable to learn”!

You know what comes next after making this observation?

George Laird right again!

So, let’s get a feel for the real Thomas Ball by some of his tweets, this will be helpful if he ever joins another political party or stands for public office again.

Incidentally, I knew he was @georgemlaird prior to him standing in the Shettleston by-election despite this; I didn’t subject him to the same treatment he used on me when I stood for public office in October 2013 in the Govan By-election. He was entitled to a free and fair election, and despite what he done to me, I didn’t harm his chances, I wanted him to lose by his own efforts, and he did, despite having a political party campaigning for him, he got 35 votes. I had no one to help me, no political party in my corner and I got 103 votes.

SNP Councillor David McDonald remarked he would like to see myself and Thomas Ball go ‘head to head’, we did on the 29^th October 2015 at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Thomas Ball lost. 

Here is the real face of Thomas Ball, political campaigner and “fighter” for social justice:

“George Laird is a nonce Salen Street would be nicer If he moved away”

“Flung out of uni Because of deviancy Not allowed alone with children”

“George Laird films young girls in leisure centres - pervert! Everyone hates him”

 

“I use the same tactics as 1930s Nazi Germany. Hmmm. Could be worse, I could be like @GeoLaird and use the tactics of 1990s Wee Burney”

“@Geolaird was thrown out of @GlasgowUni for surreptiously filming young girls in a sports centre #pervert”

“all the happy young people in shorts. The only sound disturbing the silence the thwack of flesh on flesh as I punish my tumescent member”

“I have an excellent track record of being thrown out of universities for filming female students in leisure centres”

“when @geolaird goes swimming, he has to remove the "S" from the logo on his trunks in order to comply with the Trades Descriptions Act”

On the 24^th May 2013:

“Dear All, You will have noticed that I have closed my personal account @GeoLaird - I will now only be using this account”

This was Thomas Ball’s attempt at identity theft, my real account was blocked by twitter for no reason; I managed to get it reinstated later.

As you can see Thomas Ball had a lot of fun using twitter to call me a paedophile among other things.

“why won't George Laird confirm that he has never been spoken to by the police over his sexual conduct?” 15^th July 2013

“George Laird is always very sensitive & quick to counter criticism. Why won't he say whether the police have ever discussed sexual conduct?” 16^th July 2013

“we're now in the third day of @geolaird refusing to answer the question of whether the police have ever spoken to him about sexual behaviour”. 17^th July 2013

Do you think he understands now with his Court appearance of the 29^th October 2015?

Ball’s Defence lawyer Martin Lavery entered a guilty plea on behalf of Ball; that means Thomas Ball qualifies for a reduction in sentence under the Criminal Procedures Scotland Act 1995, Section 196.

And you are going to love the transcript sent to me:

Allegedly Defence lawyer Martin Lavery said:

“Mr Ball and Mr Laird were both members of SNP and have been for years”.

This is true.

“Both knew each other and they worked in the party”.

This is true.

“The background was that Mr Laird in 2011 applied to be put forward as a candidate in the 2012 local election”.

This is not the background to why Thomas Ball attacked me, I outed Thomas Ball to the press on twitter as to his remarks regarding British Soldiers; this is a matter of record and fact.

“There was then a vetting process that the party goes through and the vetting panel considered his application and took the view that he wasn't appropriate to be a candidate”.

I was failed by the SNP because they didn’t consider me to be a team player, when I asked for evidence of this from the panel; they couldn’t provide any, not one single incident to justify their decision.

“Mr Laird for some reason blamed Mr Ball and another party member at that time”.

This is untrue.

“Mr Laird thereafter posted offensive material concerning Mr Ball and various others on social media and in essence what Mr Ball then did was to retaliate.”

So, after reading this rubbish, what Ball’s lawyer appears to be saying is that his client attacked me in self defence, if that was the case, he wouldn’t be guilty, and therefore he would and should have gone to trial to clear his name.

Have I said offensive things about people, yes, its called telling the truth, unlike Ball, its on my blog and on my real twitter account, anyone knocking at my door wanting to arrest and charge me?

Not yet, it seems!

You should read my articles on the former SNP leader Allison Hunter; I understand some people didn’t like me painting Mrs. Hunter as she really was in relation with her interacts with me.

Thomas Ball didn’t have a defence, and the reason is that Thomas Ball far from being the victim is simply guilty, and this nonsense spouted is exactly that, nonsense.

Why would I blame Ball for failing vetting when he had no part in the process?

Although many in the Scottish National Party are backward, this doesn’t and never did apply to me.

When Sheriff Margaret Liddell reads my witness statement in depth, she will be able to cross reference it with evidence already in the public domain from various sources, especially relating to the British Soldiers incident.

Thomas Ball is as I have previously said, a liar; today, Scotland can add to it that he is a coward devoid of principles and integrity.

When I came out of the prosecution witness area after Ball had entered a guilty plea, he saw me as I walked to the lifts, he didn’t seem too happy. Maybe he was told by his lawyer that Sheriff Margaret Liddell didn’t want to hear his roar!

So, what advice would I offer Thomas Ball?

Learn to tell the fucking truth!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University