Bay City Rollers boss Tam Paton 'abused and groomed victims'

Bay City Rollers boss Tam Paton ‘abused and groomed his victims like Jimmy Savile’: Nicky Campbell compares pop manager jailed for molesting teenage boys to the prolific paedophile in ITV documentary

• Tam Paton, who died in 2009, was accused of forcing boys to have sex with him 

Manager of the Bay City Rollers Tam Paton has been compared to Jimmy Savile in the way he abused and groomed his victims.

A documentary fronted by Nicky Campbell explores the Bay City Rollers’ rise – as well as Paton’s dark sexual assault claims. 

The tartan-clad group secured worldwide success with songs including Bye Bye Baby, I Only Wanna Be With You and Shang-a-Lang. 

Paton, who died of a heart attack in 2009, abused band members and enticed boys from care homes to his home where he would force them to have sex with him.

Mr Campbell said: ‘Paton was similar to Savile in the way he groomed and abused people.

‘It’s that sense of entitlement, whether it’s Savile, Paton [or] a teacher at a posh school. They can have what they want and there’s no repercussions.

Manager of the Bay City Rollers Tam Paton (pictured in 2003) has been compared to Jimmy Savile in the way he abused and groomed his victims

Pictured: Scottish pop group the Bay City Rollers. Left to right: Eric Faulkner, Les McKeown, Alan Longmuir, Stuart ‘Woody’ Wood and Derek Longmuir.

After his death, police concluded that Jimmy Savile had been a predatory sex offender and prolific peadophile

‘You got these lads – 17, 18 years old – who wanted to be pop stars, but to live the dream, there’s a deal with the Devil,’ he said according to the Mirror.

The band’s guitarist Pat McGlynn claimed that he had been the subject of an attempted rape by Paton in Australia in 1977, but the police could not gather sufficient evidence to mount a prosecution.

McKeown claimed in a 2015 interview that Paton had also helped another man force himself on McKeown while he was high on Quaaludes. 

‘It was hell,’ McKeown said. ‘But we were just daft wee laddies, following someone.’

In 1982, Paton served one year of a three-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to molesting boys over a three-year period. 

Paton, who became a successful property developer in Edinburgh, was questioned over child sex abuse allegations in 2003 but the investigation was later dropped. 

At the time he said: ‘I was in my house at the time, because really since all this started I have not been able to go out.

A documentary fronted by Nicky Campbell (pictured with band member Pat McGlynn) explores the Bay City Rollers’ rise – as well as Paton’s dark sexual assault claims

Pictured: Paton in 1976 (left) and in 2006 (right). He died in 2009 at the age of 70

‘Last week I went through to a restaurant in Falkirk where I was meeting my lawyer and my accountant. When I walked in the manager came running up to me and asked me to wait for a few moments.

‘When he came back he asked if I was Tam Paton. I told him I was and he said, ‘We don’t want your kind in here. Please leave immediately and remove your vehicle from the car park’. That is the kind of reaction I have been getting because of this.’ 

The following year he was fined £200,000 after admitting to supplying cannabis. 

He denied two charges of supplying the class A drugs cocaine and ecstasy. Paton was told in view of his age and poor health he would not face jail but would incur a substantial financial penalty as punishment.

Paton, who never married, survived two heart attacks and a stroke before dying of a suspected heart attack in April 2009, at the age of 70.

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