FORMER COUNCILLOR ADMITS HE USED PROSTITUTES
AND TOOK CRACK COCAINE

A FORMER councillor, who was a member of a Scottish government think
tank looking into the sex industry, admitted that he used the services
of prostitutes who also supplied him with crack cocaine, it was
reported yesterday.

Raymond Hutcheon has been in the spotlight since it was revealed that
he was connected to prostitutes who were supplied by murdered drug
dealer Bob Mair.

The allegations first surfaced in March, when police investigating Mr
Mair's murder searched the councillor's Aberdeen home, Corsehill
Croft, for leads. Mr Hutcheon stepped down from his post as a
councillor "for personal reasons" during the police inquiry.

Now, according to a Sunday newspaper, it has emerged that he confessed
to his drug use and relationship with four prostitutes in police
interviews with detectives investigating the murder.

Mr Hutcheon, who was a councillor for 20 years before stepping down
earlier this year, was a member of Aberdeen Council's Standards and
Scrutiny committee and sat on Grampian Joint Police Board and a
sub-committee on drugs and alcohol.

In 2002 he was forced to stand down as a governor at Oakbank School in
Aberdeen after it was revealed that he had a live-in relationship with
a former prostitute, (Redacted).

According to the leaked transcripts reported yesterday he told
officers that he had first had a relationship with another prostitute,
(Redacted), who had a heroin addiction. "On our initial meeting I
secured her services as a prostitute," he said.

The affair lasted six months and he then met (Redacted), who he
claimed introduced him to crack cocaine.

In 2005 he picked up (Redacted) and told police: "(Redacted) was a crack
abuser and sourced crack for her and me. I gave her money for crack
every few days, about UKP50 to UKP100 per time."

He also admitted to seeing a fourth prostitute, (Redacted). "She also
supplied me with crack cocaine," he said.

In September, (Redacted) ex-boyfriend, (Redacted), was convicted
of murdering Mair, who owed him money, before hiding his body in a
cupboard.

Police did not discover the murder had taken place until five weeks
later.

At the trial it emerged that (Redacted), 40, from Dreghorn, Ayrshire,
had intended to break into (Redacted) home to steal his laptop,
claiming that he wanted to access "information about certain police
officers" to prove police corruption.

(Redacted), 17, of Galston, Ayrshire, was later charged with
conspiring to abduct and assault Mr Hutcheon.

In March he resigned from his post and is no longer a member of the
Lib Dems. A spokesman for the party said: "His private life is a
matter for him and we have no further comment to make."

Yesterday Mr Hutcheon was not available for comment.