MSP welcomed teenage girls to Holyrood days after indecent images charge

MSP Colin Smyth met a Girl Guides group at Holyrood days after he was charged with possessing indecent images of children.

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON

Smyth welcomed the teenage girls to the parliament over a week after the police action.

Police Scotland said Smyth, who was first elected as a Labour MSP nine years ago, had been charged on August 5.

The Record then revealed on August 28 he had been charged over a secret camera in a Holyrood toilet.

Parliamentary authorities deactivated his Holyrood pass on the same evening as news broke of the new charges.

However, Smyth was able to access the parliament for weeks after he was initially charged and he visited on August 15 when he met the Girl Guides group who were on a visit.

A spokeswoman for Girl-guiding said: "Girls' safety and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do in guiding. We are aware that an MSP has been charged.