Jailed former SNP officer unmasked by the Sunday Mail accessed services at controversial rape crisis centre

Cameron Downing, who identifies as non-binary, was first exposed by this newspaper in October 2022 after he threatened violence towards women in a series of tweets.

A jailed former SNP Equalities Officer unmasked by the Sunday Mail accessed services at the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre which has been slammed for failing to protect women’s only spaces.

Cameron Downing, who identifies as non-binary, was first exposed by this newspaper in October 2022 after he threatened violence towards women in a series of tweets.

Downing, 24, had said he wanted to “beat the f*** out of some terfs and transphobes.”

Terf - meaning trans-exclusionary radical feminist - is a derogatory term used against women who do not recognise the gender identity of trans women. After our expose, Downing resigned.

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Downing, who is now serving time in prison, previously used the Edinburgh service which was opened up to men as service users as well as women.

In July, Downing was handed six years at the High Court in Edinburgh after being found guilty of 10 charges of assault, sexual assault and domestic abuse on four women and two men between 2016 and 2021.

He was jailed for six years and handed a further three years on licence.

Judge Alison Stirling also placed Downing on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

In response to our investigation, ex-SNP minister Fergus Ewing demanded a probe into the party activist and accused party leaders of ignoring red flags over Downing.

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