Police have spoken to the 16-year-old schoolboy who was bombarded with social media messages by Scotland’s former finance secretary Derek Mackay.
Police Scotland said while it has not “received any complaint of criminality” regarding the SNP politician’s behaviour, it is “assessing available information”.
Meanwhile it emerged that Mr Mackay – who quit the Scottish Government hours before he was due to present the Budget after the scandal broke – has deleted or restricted access to his social media accounts.
READ MORE: Derek Mackay: Former finance secretary faces fresh allegations over unwanted messages
His resignation came after The Scottish Sun reported he had sent 270 messages to a 16-year-old he befriended on Facebook and Instagram.
The youngster told the paper: “I was happy to speak to the police and will tell them everything that happened.
“I didn’t think what he was doing was a crime but I knew it was wrong and should be highlighted.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We have not received any complaint of criminality, however we are currently assessing available information.
“We would encourage anyone with information to please come forward. Police Scotland will always listen to anyone who wishes to seek advice or formally report a matter to us.”
Mr Mackay – who has also been suspended from the SNP pending investigation – is reported to have called the youngster “cute” as well as offering to take him to a rugby game and out to dinner.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon accepted her finance secretary’s resignation (John Linton/PA)
Opposition politicians have condemned what they described as “predatory” behaviour from Mr Mackay – who had been tipped as a future successor to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – saying the messages amounted to “grooming”.
Mr Mackay, a father-of-two who came out as gay in 2013, has not been seen in public since the story broke on Wednesday night.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon 'banned shamed Derek Mackay from drinking at SNP conferences'
It was later reported that the Renfrewshire North and West MSP had also sent dozens of unwanted messages to an SNP activist over a period of four years.
Shaun Cameron, 25, told the Daily Record on Friday that the MSP contacted him on Facebook after meeting him at an SNP event when he was 21. He said some of the messages were “quite suggestive” – alleging the then finance secretary had asked him in September 2017: “Got any naughty pics?”
Ms Sturgeon confirmed to MSPs at Holyrood on Thursday that she had accepted Mr Mackay’s resignation from Government – saying his behaviour had fallen “seriously below the standard required of a minister”.
In his resignation statement, Mr Mackay accepted he had “behaved foolishly” and he apologised unreservedly to the teenage boy and his family.
He said at the time: “I take full responsibility for my actions. I have behaved foolishly and I am truly sorry.”
He remains an MSP but is facing mounting calls to quit.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel