![\"Tim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1_Screenshot-2024-08-05-104802.png\")
<\/p>\nA witness, giving evidence using the pseudonym Murphy, told how young boys were \u201cgroomed\u201d at parties at Tam Paton\u2019s house in Edinburgh in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n
14:51, 01 May 2026Updated 14:53, 01 May 2026<\/p>\n
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Tam Paton was the manager of the Bay City Rollers<\/p>\n
Ex-Bay City Rollers manager Tam Paton was \u201c100%\u201d involved in a paedophile ring, a former children\u2019s home resident has told an inquiry. The witness, giving evidence<\/a> using the pseudonym Murphy, told how young boys were \u201cgroomed\u201d at parties at Paton\u2019s house in Edinburgh in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n Murphy, at the time aged in his early teens, was a resident at Ponton House in the city<\/a> and said he went to parties at Paton\u2019s house because others were going. Paton, who managed the Rollers through their most successful period, was jailed for three years in 1982 for sex offences involving teenage boys. He died in 2009.<\/p>\n Murphy told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) in Edinburgh<\/a> on Friday that drugs and alcohol were available and indecent films would be shown at the parties, where older men would take underage boys off to rooms. The witness said two people he thought were judges attended the parties, as well as professional people \u201cwith their suits and fancy cars\u201d.<\/p>\n Describing one of his experiences, he said: \u201cI was fed drugs in Tam\u2019s living room and a guy came and took me to a room. I took a knife with me. I took the knife out and the guy jumped up and told me he was a judge.\u201d<\/p>\n Tam Paton(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n He said he then felt a pain in his head, fell unconscious and was later taken to a car and away from the scene. Inquiry judge Lady Smith<\/a> asked whether attending the parties was at first a \u201cwhat\u2019s not to like\u201d situation.<\/p>\n Murphy replied: \u201cYes, till it got sexual. At first it was drugs, then later it was like we were groomed. It was not like you were taken in and there were guys touching you, it was lots of times through the day and you got something to drink, then later on it would be at night.\u201d<\/p>\n He told the inquiry<\/a> he also encountered convicted sex offender John Wilson, now in his 80s. Wilson was jailed for more than 12 years in December 2022 after he was convicted of sexual offences spanning 56 years, including sexually assaulting three teenage boys.<\/p>\n Murphy told the inquiry he saw Wilson inside Ponton House but Paton would sit outside in his car waiting to pick boys up and take them to his parties. The witness said when he was older he became an \u201cenforcer\u201d for Paton and would find boys for him, as he had been threatened with violence if he did not comply and told compromising pictures of him may be shared.<\/p>\n James Peoples KC, lead senior counsel to the inquiry, asked: \u201cAre you in any doubt that what was happening was a paedophile ring?\u201d Murphy replied: \u201c100%.\u201d<\/p>\n The witness<\/a> said he was not proud of having procured boys for Paton but said that on one occasion he was threatened with a knife by someone acting for Paton and was afraid about what would happen if he did not do what he was told. Lady Smith asked how Paton made him feel, to which Murphy replied: \u201cTerrified.\u201d<\/p>\n Lady Smith, chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry(Image: Handout)<\/p>\n Murphy also suggested Paton was a man who used his connections with high profile figures to get what he wanted. He said: \u201cTam was a man who liked to tell you what power he had. He didn\u2019t hide who he knew.\u201d<\/p>\n The witness<\/a> said he did not understand why he had been placed in Ponton House, where he was one of the youngest, as it was more of a hostel for older boys. Mr Peoples asked whether staff at Ponton House knew what was going on and turned a \u201cblind eye\u201d, and the witness replied: \u201cYes, as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ponton Trust in 2023 succeeded the Ponton House Trust which took over the sale proceeds of the house after it was sold in the early 1980s. A statement on behalf of the Ponton Trust was given at the opening of the latest phase of the inquiry in January and said: \u201cThe trustees of the Ponton Trust unequivocally condemn and abhor any such abuse and offer an apology to any young person who was subjected to abuse while residing at the Ponton House Boys\u2019 Residence.\u201d<\/p>\n The current phase of the inquiry<\/a> is considering the provision of residential care for children and young people in establishments run by local authorities and establishments run by voluntary providers used by local authorities and others to place children in care. 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