A former SNP equalities officer who sexually assaulted six young adults has been jailed for six years. 

Cameron Downing, 24, was also convicted of physically assaulting two women.

One of his female victims told the High Court in Edinburgh he had made abusive comments to her at a New Year Party in 2018 about her weight. She said this caused her to get drunk and become sick.

Downing then took her upstairs, persuaded her to get undressed so she could shower. She then woke up with bruises she believed he had caused.

He was also convicted of a domestic abuse charge. Over the course of several months, he blackmailed a man into having sex with him and threatened to falsely accuse him of raping him.  

He said he would tell the man’s friends, family and employers. 

Downing also repeatedly sent the victim threatening messages, demanded he provide his social media passwords and made threats to kill himself.  

He subjected the victim to repeated sexual activity without his consent over the course of several months.  

Sentencing him on Tuesday, Judge Alison Stirling told Downing he had “the capacity to cause physical and sexual harm as well as psychological distress”.

She said: “You have distorted views regarding intimate partner violence, and you have shown no remorse or insight into how your actions may have affected your victim.”

The judge added: “Your offences are likely to have caused significant psychological and physical harm to all of your victims, and their psychological recovery from your actions could be prolonged.”

She said Downing showed a “hostility towards women, lack of concern for others, sexual preoccupation and deviant sexual preference”, and that he was at high risk of reoffending.

Speaking after the sentencing Katrina Parkes, Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for High Court Sexual Offending, said: “Cameron Downing is a dangerous individual whose predatory and manipulative behaviour has inflicted unimaginable trauma.

“It is thanks to the bravery and courage of his victims that this prosecution has been possible.

“I would urge any victim of a similar crime not to suffer in silence but to report it and seek support.

“You will be listened to, and we will use every tool available to us in seeking justice.”

Downing was imprisoned for six years with a further three years on licence, and was also made the subject of an indefinite non-harassment order in respect of one of the complainers.

He will also be placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Downing was an active member of the SNP. According to his Linkedin profile he had stints as an equalities officer in the party's branches in Edinburgh and London. 

He was also heavily involved in Out For Independence, the SNP's LGBTQ+ wing, serving as the media and communications officer and gender identity and expression officer.

He has been pictured at an SNP conference with Nicola Sturgeon.

In 2022, it emerged that Downing had tweeted that he wanted to “beat the f*** out of some terfs and transphobes”. He also tweeted: “I f***ing hate terfs and transphobes with such a passion.”

The tweets caused Harry Potter author JK Rowling to tweet: “Nicola Sturgeon’s Scotland: A place where an equalities officer feels free to declare in public how much he wants to beat up non-compliant women.”