A former councillor who argued for implementing gender neutral spaces in his community has been found guilty on charges related to the sexual abuse of two children.
David Smith, 33, had been charged with 11 counts of inciting or engaging in sexual activity with a child. He was found unanimously guilty on all counts by a jury at Teesside Crown Court today, and was remanded to custody. Sentencing is scheduled for May 16.
The disgraced ex-councillor represented the Coulby Newham ward on Middlesbrough Council following an election victory in May of 2019. Two months later, he was served with a slew of child sex abuse charges. He stepped down from the Conservative Party in July of 2019, and ultimately resigned from the council altogether in 2020.
The first victim came had initially gone to police in 2016 after experiencing great emotional distress related to his past abuse and finally opening up to his partner and mother about the ordeal. A second victim was introduced after the first charges had been established. Both victims had been sexually abused by Smith around a decade ago while they were young boys.
According to Teesside Live, Smith had groomed the first victim by showering him with gifts and trips before progressively subjecting him to increasing sexual abuses. Smith allegedly spent up to £10,000 (approx. $13,000 USD) on the boy in an attempt to “keep him quiet.”
During the trial last week, the court was played audio of the first victim’s interview with police wherein the victim described Smith asking him “did you like it?” after raping him. The victim also noted he witnessed pornographic content on Smith’s computer which included child sexual exploitation materials featuring boys as young as 10 years old.
The victim spoke from behind a privacy screen while addressing the court in earlier sessions, and noted his experiences with Smith had “traumatized” him.
Charges related to a second victim included Smith attempting to persuade the child to engage in sexual activity by inviting him to touch the adult man’s genitals.
During his 2019 campaign and subsequent election, Smith affirmed he was an “advocate of the LGBTQ community,” and one of his first moves once taking office was to petition the Mayor to abolish single-sex toilets in town buildings.
At the time, Smith stated:
“Through my time interaction with local transgender and non-binary people, I’ve seen first hand the difficulties faced by these individuals when accessing public toilets and changing rooms,” adding, “Across the country, pubs, shopping centers, universities, and schools are becoming gender neutral to ensure our transgender and non-binary family and friends feel safe when using the facilities.”
The politician went on to assert that “risk does not increase once public toilets becomes gender neutral. In fact, if anyone has any intention of committing a crime at present, they will do so.”
Smith’s campaign was backed by LGBT charity Hart Gables, and was ultimately successful, with an attempt being launched shortly after in which toilets intended for persons with disabilities were converted into “all gender” facilities for a period of time.
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