Tam Paton: I'm quitting Britain

Published on Tuesday 11 March 2003 00:00

TAM PATON is set to leave Scotland after being cleared of child sex abuse allegations.

The ex-Bay City Rollers manager said that he is sickened by what he sees as "persecution" in his home country, and that he intends to move abroad to live out his retirement in Spain.

Mr Paton, 64, was yesterday cleared by police in Surrey over an allegation that he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy in the 1970s.

Speaking for the first time after the charges were dropped, he claimed that prominent homosexuals were being deliberately targeted by the police.

He also claimed that he felt like he was treated "like Osama Bin Laden" when he and partner Ray Cotter were handcuffed and taken away in a police swoop on his mansion in Gogarburn.

Mr Cotter, Mr Paton’s partner for 25 years and currently battling against cancer, also spoke out today over the allegations, saying they were "ludicrous".

Mr Paton said: "Scotland is a country I love dearly and Edinburgh is my home. But I have come to the conclusion that if you are a prominent person and gay, you should pack your bags and leave the UK.

"People in positions of power are out to get us. These historical allegations should be renamed hysterical allegations, because that is what we are facing. Hysteria.

"I don’t want to leave Scotland, but I can’t walk down the street now without people sneering at me, growling at me, calling me a beast.

"The police in Scotland are fine and I think they take a more liberal approach, but police forces in England are definitely on a mission to persecute people.

"I am looking for a place in Spain. The first thing I need to do is make sure that Ray’s health is improving. I also have other allegations which I am facing relating to drugs here in Lothian and Borders.

"When that’s all over and done with I will certainly look at leaving the country."

He added: "The worst part about all of this has been the fact that it has come at a time when Ray is fighting cancer. When the police came to arrest us Ray was in handcuffs for more than six hours. He is a very ill man, and he did not get access to the life-saving drugs that he needs for that whole time."

Mr Cotter, who lives with Mr Paton, said: "I knew that these allegations were ludicrous so I always knew that Tam would be cleared. But it has been a very difficult time for us all. I have been very unwell and this has not helped at all."

Mr Paton also claimed he had faced blackmail threats since the allegations were made public. He said: "I don’t want to go into too much detail but there have been people who have attempted blackmail and extortion on the back of these allegations."

Mr Paton called for a change in the law to protect men accused of sex crimes until they have been proven guilty in a court of law.

He said: "I have had all sorts of horrendous stories about me in the press and my reputation is in tatters. It is time to change the law so that people can remain anonymous while they are still innocent in the eyes of the law."

He revealed that his bank accounts had all been frozen and his passport removed by police due to outstanding drugs allegations, which he is still fighting.

He said: "I can’t get access to my own money. I can’t even pay my electricity bills. I’ve got a red letter sitting here for an unpaid bill. My passport has also been taken away, so I can’t go anywhere until this other allegation is cleared up."

The sex allegations against Mr Paton centred on a club in Surrey frequented by teenagers and big names from the music industry in the 1970s called the Walton Hop. Surrey Police launched operation Arundel after a number of allegations of sexual abuse were made against prominent individuals who were said to frequent the club, including Mr Paton, TV presenter Matthew Kelly and record industry executive Steve Jolley.

The charges against Mr Kelly were dropped late last month and those against Mr Jolley were dropped yesterday

The drug allegation against Mr Paton relates to a quantity of cannabis allegedly found at his home during the police raid in late January. Today, he admitted that he does take cannabis, baked in cakes as a "spacecake", but he said the time had come for a change in the law on the drug.

He said: "I openly admit that I take cannabis, in spacecakes. Anything I had at the house was purely for personal use."

Paedophile DJ Jonathan King, now serving a jail sentence for child sex charges, was also known to be a regular at the Walton Hop. But Mr Paton today dismissed suggestions that he was a regular at the club, saying he only ever went there on Rollers business. He said: "I was there three times, and each of those times it was because the Rollers were performing there.

"This was a club that was full of young girls, and they were the Rollers’ biggest fans. I was there because it was a great business opportunity to plug the Rollers.

"If it was young boys I was after I would not have frequented a place where two thirds of the crowd were young girls."

He also said he had never met Matthew Kelly, at the Walton Hop or on any other occasion.

A spokeswoman for Surrey Police confirmed the charges had now been dropped.

He said: "Two men, arrested by Surrey Police in January in connection with a historic allegation of sexual abuse against a boy under the age of 16 , have been released with no further action to be taken against them in connection with this allegation.

"We received an allegation of a serious nature and were under a duty of care to conduct a full investigation. This has now been thoroughly investigated, including the undertaking of searches, computer examination and witness interviews.

"Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service it has been decided that there is insufficient evidence to support the allegation against a man in his 60s, from Edinburgh, and a 52-year-old man from Barnet, Hertfordshire."