An MSP has revealed how police investigating allegations of a secret camera hidden in a Holyrood lavatory interviewed him as a potential witness, mistakenly believing he had appeared in seized footage.
The MSP, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said Police Scotland contacted him as a potential witness in the case against a fellow MSP, Colin Smyth.
“I was contacted by the police and they said they wanted to interview me as a potential witness in the case,” he said. “I arranged to meet them away from Holyrood and they showed me a picture.”
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The images, shot from above, depicted a person dressed in a suit inside one of the two cubicles at the centre of investigations near the debating chamber used by MSPs. Only the top of the person’s head was captured in the photographs.
“It was supposed to be a shot of the top of my head from a high position in the cubicle in the toilet outside the chamber that the MSPs mainly use,” he said. “They thought it was me from the hairstyle and the suit that was worn in the picture, but the individual concerned was wearing a lanyard, which I never do.”
He was able to confirm to the police that it was a case of mistaken identity.
The incident has highlighted the widening scope of a police investigation in which at least five MSPs are thought to have been contacted, along with several journalists and parliament staff, in an effort to identify individuals who may have been caught on camera.
The ongoing investigation is connected to Smyth, the South of Scotland MSP, who is due to appear at Dumfries sheriff court on September 24. The 52-year-old faces a criminal charge over allegedly hiding a secret camera in a Scottish parliament toilet. Smyth denies this charge.
The married father of two was charged with possessing indecent images of children following a search of his home in Dumfries last month. The Scottish Labour party suspended him after becoming aware of the allegations.
Following the alleged discovery of the camera, the Scottish parliamentary corporate body revoked Smyth’s Holyrood security access. Smyth was elected in 2016 and had previously served as a local councillor and the general secretary for Scottish Labour. He stated that he was “fully co-operating” with the investigation and has previously accused Police Scotland of releasing details of its investigation to the public.