A SCOTTISH councillor has pleaded guilty to making, having and distributing indecent images.

Clydebank councillor Craig Edward, 34, appeared on February 14 at Dumbarton Sheriff Court, just yards from where he used to sit as a Labour member of West Dunbartonshire Council.

The former SNP activist and housing campaigner fled to England after he was charged in 2022.

While his locked Twitter account states he is a Clydebank councillor, he got a post representing the south of England and Wales with a group working with disabled motorists.

At court today, the now independent councillor for Clydebank Central pleaded guilty to three charges involving 599 images and 93 videos. One image involved a baby. 

On various occasions between March 6, 2016, and September 26, 2022, Edward did take or permit to be taken or make indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at an address in Crown Avenue. 

He also had possession of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children. 

And on various occasions between September 20, 2022, and September 22, 2022, he did distribute or show indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry deferred sentence for reports.

Edward has continued to tweet from a locked account as late as January on local and Scottish politics. His location in his bio states "Clydebank".

On September 21, 2022 - while he was distributing indecent images - he contacted his local paper the Clydebank Post asking when his next column was due for the paper.

At the time, he claimed he had been in hospital.

In June 2015, Edward was a founding member of Dalmuir and Mountblow Community Council and was elected as its first chairman, then later switching to vice-chairman.

He tried to be selected for the SNP in the 2017 council elections but was rejected and then switched to Labour.

In 2017, he was chairman of the Dalmuir Multi Storey Flats TRA.

In November 2020 he was elected as chair of Dalmuir Park Housing Association.

He was on the board of the Stepping Stones mental health charity in Clydebank.

In the early weeks of the Covid pandemic, he worked as a cleaner for the NHS and leaked descriptions of the pressures on the service to the Post.

He made petitions to the Scottish Parliament over vaping-related illnesses and deaths.

Edward was elected as a Labour councillor in May 2022 after five years of ingratiating himself with multiple organisations and the press in the town. He helped multiple Labour campaigns in that time.

After Labour retook West Dunbartonshire Council from the SNP, Edward was made convenor for housing and communities.

In that position, he was photographed and quoted at events such as Linnvale Gala Day in June 2022, weeks before his arrest.

He also visited Clyde Shopmobility and Awestruck Academy. He did a Drumry walkabout with residents in August.

Despite facing charges for his Clydebank crimes, Edward - whose email address was "craigFBI" - moved south and was made an area manager with the British Parking Association (BPA) for South West and South Wales.

The BPA ensure that car parks and areas with parking are accessible for people with mobility issues.

They also make sure parking areas have been approved with their Park Mark Plus scheme which aims to prevent criminal behaviour.

In December, Edward was photographed handing an award to a Slough car park.

He was been placed on the sex offenders register and released on bail.