Scout Leader Set Up Fake Camp To Sexually Assault Boys

A senior Scout leader set up a fake camp so he could lure young boys to his home and ply them with drink before sexually abusing them. Assistant commissioner Alan Grant, 42, printed fake consent forms and conned trusting parents into letting him take their children to “camp”.

However, there was no camp, and Grant simply took the boys back to his own home and carried out serious sex attacks upon them.

Perth Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Grant later told social workers he had “sexual fantasies” about children.

Grant, who was area assistant commissioner for Scouting in Perth and Kinross, unzipped two boys’ sleeping bags and carried out serious sex attacks.

He resigned from the Scout Association almost immediately after the incidents at his home at St Madoes, Perthshire, earlier this year. The boys, both 15, were too embarrassed to report the attacks to police, but suspicious scout chiefs launched an inquiry into Grant’s sudden resignation.

It then emerged that he had hatched a plot to lure the boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to his home.

The court heard how Grant spent months lying to parents about an upcoming scout camp he wanted their sons to attend. He went to the trouble of preparing fake permission slips and convinced the unsuspecting parents to sign them so the boys could stay away overnight.

Grant admitted two charges of sexually abusing 15-year-old boys at his home on March 18 or 19. He admitted supplying the boys with strong alcohol and also admitted making up a story about a Scout camp and fooling parents into signing fake parental consent forms during the first three months of this year. Social workers told the court Grant admitted in January this year feeling “sexually attracted” to the boys and to other children of both sexes.

But yesterday Grant denied making the comments to the social workers involved and sentence was deferred for clarification.