The victim of Patrick Grady’s sexual harassment has criticised Parliament’s handling of complaints.

Speaking to the BBC’s Panorama, the man said the lengthy process had been more “traumatic” than the SNP MP’s abuse.

The former staffer, referred to as Oliver in the programme, said he had lost his job, his livelihood and had suffered damage to both his physical and mental health in the months following his initial complaint.  

READ MORE: SNP MP Patrick Grady apologises for sexual harassment

He was just 19 when Mr Grady made unwanted sexual advances toward him at a Christmas Party in 2016.

“I was sitting on a couch in the pub, speaking to some colleagues and Patrick Grady came over and sat on the arm of the couch of the sofa that I was sitting on. 

“I felt something on my head and I looked up and it was Patrick Grady touching my head and making a comment about my hair and how he wished he had hair. 

“And he proceeded to put his hand down the back of my neck. So much so that my tie was pushing back on my neck and choking me a little bit. And he was touching my lower back as well. I think at that point was when I felt very uncomfortable with what was going on.”

Oliver said he did not want to complain because he was “scared of the repercussions.”

When Mr Grady became the SNP’s Chief Whip, he ended up becoming the man’s immediate boss. 

Oliver soon tried to get a new job and arranged to meet another MP in a commons bar. 

There he says there was a second incident involving the SNPs Patricia Gibson.

He told the programme: “When I walked into the stranger's bar, Patricia Gibson was sitting on a bar stool at a high table by herself with a big glass of red wine, looking quite drunk.

“What followed was Patricia coming up to me and grabbing my arm she was whispering in my ear to 'come home and shag me' was the words that she used. 

“So I tried to move away from her and she kept following me around the bar and grabbing my arm and keep repeating 'come home and shag me’.”

Ms Gibson has denied the allegation, though, according to the programme, admitted she was too drunk to remember what had happened.

READ MORE: Sex pest SNP MP Patrick Grady 'planning to stand at general election'

After the second alleged incident, Oliver decided to raise complaints against both MPs

He phoned the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme set up in the wake of the #MeToo movement. 

Oliver then faced a lengthy interview, before the investigator spoke to the MPs involved, witnesses and others. 

He told the programme: “The investigator getting in touch all of the time every day on a daily basis got quite stressful and it then turned into this crazy long investigation. It should be a simple process. 

“At some point through the investigation, you get back what other people have said that includes the perpetrators, the complainants, the witnesses, and a lot of it was soul destroying, you know, it crushed me. 

“One of my colleagues at the time said I was a fantasist with a drink problem. 

“It was a very bruising, bruising time, and I lost all self confidence. I got very sick, very very, very sick.”

Ten months after the complaint, the ICGS came back and upheld allegations of sexual harassment against Mr Grady and Ms Gibson. 

The complaints were then passed on to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for review. 

Again, the Commissioner upheld allegations in both cases

They were then sent to an independent expert panel made up of eight lawyers and employment specialists to review the process and recommend any punishment.

Oliver said at that point, Ms Gibson involved a lawyer who “managed to get the whole investigation overturned.”

The panel said the way the investigation was carried out was inconsistent, procedurally unfair, and the wrong test for sexual misconduct was used. 

Ms Gibson told Panorama that the investigation had “failed to record or weigh the evidence fairly and did not take into account representations she had made.” 

She said she was grateful that the panel corrected the errors made in the original investigation and dismissed this complaint. 

The panel upheld the original finding against Mr Grady. 

Fourteen months after the initial complaint, the MP was suspended from the commons for two days.

“I couldn't believe it,” Oliver said. “The amount of time that I had put into this, the amount of effort and how much my life was consumed by this, for him to be suspended for two days.” 

READ MORE: Stephen Flynn treating sex pest Patrick Grady just like other SNP MPs

Oliver felt he could no longer work in the same building and resigned.

“He's still an MP is also still getting his full MP salary and his expenses. And then there's me where I've lost my job, my livelihood, something I've been doing since I left high school, all gone because I decided to make a complaint.

"It really took its toll on me mentally and physically on my health. It wasn't actually the sexual harassment that I found the most traumatic. It was the process I was going through.”

“Members of Parliament shouldn't be trying to have sexual relationships with their staff,” he added.

“They should be trying to represent their constituents. They shouldn't be going to Westminster to get drunk and to say inappropriate things to your members of staff. They should be there to make speeches and vote.

Despite the party being aware of the complaint, Mr Grady was allowed to remain in post as the SNP's Chief Whip until March 2021 - when The Herald first revealed the accusations against him.

He was even allowed to speak in a 2019 Commons debate about the harassment of staff.

Mr Grady is understood to be seeking to stand again for the SNP at the next election. 

The SNP depute leader Mhairi Black also appeared on the programme - though not to discuss Oliver’s case. 

She said there was an “entitlement that exists particularly in Westminster, where politicians are the first class citizens and everyone else's second.”

“The politicians are treated like gods almost,” she said. 

“There's a real sense of powerlessness. I don't know how to make this better, because I can't say to the person that things will get better because in my experience they don't. 

“It's usually talented people who are forced out of Westminster, are forced out of politics.”

The Herald has approached Mr Grady, Ms Gibson and the SNP for comment.