Hundreds turn out to say final goodbye to Bay City Rollers boss

Published on Friday 24 April 2009 22:07

TAM Paton, the controversial music manager who engineered the Bay City Rollers' rise to fame, was cremated yesterday.

Hundreds of mourners attended the service at Edinburgh's Mortonhall Crematorium to pay their respects to the reclusive multi-millionaire, who died on 8 April after suffering a heart attack.

Former members of the 1970s band were absent from the funeral.

Paton was a contentious figure with convictions for sexual abuse, and the minister who conducted the service suggested the occasion gave mourners cause to reflect on his life.

"This is no place for judging," said Reverend Bob Glover, the minister at Port Seton's Chalmers Church and a family friend.

Phillipe Boussiere, Paton's nephew, said his uncle had "moved in circles we are glad not to know".

Paton, who was 70, was convicted of sex offences against two boys aged 16 and 17 in 1982. He was also convicted of drug dealing in 2004 after 26,000 worth of cannabis was found at his home, but was cleared on appeal.

In 2003 Rollers guitarist Pat McGlynn claimed Paton attempted to rape him in an Australian hotel in 1977, but police said there was insufficient evidence to take the allegation any further.

Paton had previously said that after his death, his property empire would be taken over by trustees, and his will is said to include money for various animal charities and for the children's hospice at Kinross, Fife.