Thomas Dougal "Tam" Paton (5 August 1938 – 8 April 2009) was a pop group manager, most notably of the Scottish

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

the

Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity, as a band in the 1970s. One of many 70s acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles", they were called the "tartan teen sensations fro ...

, and convicted child sex offender.

Biography

Born in Prestonpans,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, he was the son of a potato merchant. Paton initially drove a truck to aid the Bay City Rollers financially. He guided the band through to their period of success during the mid-1970s, nurturing their image of being the "boys next door". He was responsible for beginning a myth that the band members preferred drinking milk to alcohol, in order to cultivate a clean, innocent image. However, vocalist Les McKeown later said Paton introduced the band members to drugs. "When we got a wee bit tired, he'd give us

amphetamines Substituted amphetamines, or simply amphetamines, are a chemical class, class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative (chemistry), derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substitution reacti ...

," McKeown recalled in 2005. "He'd keep us awake with speed, black bombers. You end up almost showing off to each other what stupid drugs you've taken." In 1979, Paton was fired as manager, and subsequently developed a multi-million- pound real estate business based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. In the late 1970s Paton managed the band

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, Egypt, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts ...

, and had a romantic relationship with the guitarist Paul Lerwill, who later changed his name to Gregory Gray. In his autobiography ''I Ran With The Gang: My Life In And Out Of The Bay City Rollers'' (2018), Alan Longmuir suggests Paton benefited from friendships with politicians, police officers and senior members of the justiciary, and wrote of his fears that more will emerge about Paton that will show “his depravity ran deeper than we currently know”. Longmuir states:

Criminal convictions and child sex abuse allegations

Paton, who was openly gay, was involved in a number of legal controversies. In 1982 he was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to the

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

of 10 boys over a three-year period. He was arrested on

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...

charges in January 2003, but was later cleared of all allegations. In April 2004, Paton was convicted of supplying

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

and fined £200,000. In 2003, he was accused of trying to

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

the Bay City Rollers guitarist Pat McGlynn, in a hotel room in 1977. The police decided there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution. In 2016, Bay City Rollers singer Les McKeown accused Paton of raping him. In the documentary ''Secrets of the Bay City Rollers'' (2023): In 2023, Gert Magnus, who had lived at a children's home, claimed that Paton blackmailed him into taking other youngsters to his house so he could sexually abuse them. In the 1970s Magnus had lived at Paton's Little Kellerstain home near

, and had been told by Paton that, if he procured other boys for him from care homes, he would stop raping him. While at Paton's house, he said, "There were always parties and lots of young boys and lots of producers... Going to the room and coming out. Big party." He also recalled

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English media personality and DJ. He was known for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. A ...

being present. "I was so young. And I thought that's normal in this business," he said. The band's original singer Nobby Clarke elsewhere said that Paton once told him the band would get better promotion on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

if a member slept with DJ Chris Denning, who was later convicted of paedophilia. In October 2022 John Wilson was convicted of sexually assaulting children, with Paton, at Paton's home.

Death

Paton died of a suspected

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

aged 70 at his

home on 8 April 2009. At the time of his death he weighed . On the night of his death, drugs and cash worth £1.5m were stolen from his house.

References

Bibliography

* Stambler, Irwin (1974). ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul''. St. Martin's Press, Inc. . *Longmuir, Alan and Knight, Martin (2021). ''I Ran With The Gang: My Life In And Out Of The Bay City Rollers'' (2nd ed.). Luath Press Ltd. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, Tam 1938 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Scottish criminals 21st-century Scottish criminals Bay City Rollers British people convicted of child sexual abuse Drug dealers Gay businessmen Human trafficking Organized crime Scottish LGBTQ businesspeople Scottish gay men People from Prestonpans 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish music managers Scottish people convicted of drug offences 20th-century Scottish LGBTQ people 21st-century Scottish LGBTQ people

Biography

Criminal convictions and child sex abuse allegations

Death

See also

References

Bibliography