Former Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing has called for an internal probe into a former SNP equalities officer who sexually assaulted six young adults.

He told the Sunday Mail that the Cameron Downing scandal “must not be swept under the carpet”.

Earlier this month, the 24-year-old was jailed for six years, with Judge Alison Stirling telling him that his offences were "likely to have caused significant psychological and physical harm to all of your victims."

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.

READ MORE: Ex-SNP equalities officer jailed for sexually assaulting young adults

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 and 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.  

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 and other senior figures. 

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.”

Mr Ewing said there were “vital questions about this person, whom I have never met, and the support he appears to have enjoyed from the SNP top command”.

He added: “These questions must not be swept under the carpet; a carpet already bulging with numerous other unanswered questions – like 'where’s all the referendum money gone?' and 'what did we need a campervan for?'

“Reality doesn’t go away by ignoring it. The people get that. It’s long overdue time that the SNP party leadership does too.”

An SNP spokesperson “Cameron has not been a member of the party for some time since his social media views came to light. We hope this conviction gives some closure to Cameron’s victims.”

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.