A former SNP campaign manager and renowned drag queen has been cleared of snapping voyeur photos to view or share of his half-naked pal as he lay unconscious.
Nathan Sparling, 31, was on trial accused of taking images of the man while his penis was exposed following a boozy drinking session.
Sparling, who was an aide to ex-SNP depute leader Angus Robertson, was accused of using the victim’s phone to take several pictures at his Edinburgh flat.
But a not proven verdict was returned by Sheriff John Cook on Monday after a two-day trial at the city’s sheriff court.
Delivering the verdict, Sheriff Cook said he’d concluded Sparling took the photos and described his actions as “clearly reprehensible”.
The sheriff added Sparling could have “no reasonable belief” that the victim gave his consent.
He said the images showed the man in an “unconscious, vulnerable and naked state”.
Sheriff Cook referred to the crime commonly known as “upskirting” where a camera is used to take photos of a victim’s genitals which otherwise wouldn’t be “visible”.
He said: “That is not the scenario here.”
The sheriff said he wasn’t persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that Sparling was “responsible for the removal of clothing” or of taking photos to view or share and found the charge not proven.
Sparling was charged with taking a photo of the victim’s penis at his flat in the city’s Leith area on June 22 2019 with the intention of enabling “yourself or another person” to view it.
Sparling was chief executive of charity HIV Scotland at the time of the alleged offence.
He was the former campaign manager for constitution secretary Angus Robertson who was then the SNP’s Westminster leader.
The trial previously heard how Sparling and the man, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, had been on a night-out before returning to the accused's flat.
Giving evidence, the man told the court he’d awoken the next morning to find himself undressed from the waist down. He said his pants had been rolled down and his genitals were exposed.
The man said there had been seven or eight photos and he had deleted them.
The court heard he later reported the matter to police.
On Monday, defence agent Neil Stewart told the trial that Sparling and the man had a “jokey relationship” which included “risqué comments being made”.
Mr Stewart said if Sparling took the photos then it was a “joke, albeit a very juvenile joke done in very poor taste”.
The solicitor said it was meant to be “funny” and a “joke about how drunk” the pair were with “no malice” involved.
Asked outside court for a comment on being cleared, Sparling did not respond.
In 2014 the Record told how Sparling was ditching politics to pursue his career as a 7ft-tall drag queen.
We described how he spent hours each night transforming into his alter-ego Nancy Clench as he toured Scotland for comedy gigs.
At that time, he gave up his then job as an assistant at SNP MSP Aileen Campbell’s Carluke office to take his act to London.
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