A paedophile lawyer worked for a Government-backed youth charity embroiled in accusations it failed to handle claims of child sexual harassment. Alan Eccles, from Giffnock near Glasgow, was spared jail after pleading guilty to three charges and sentenced to 300 hours of community service at Paisley Sheriff Court last week. He admitted to engaging in grossly offensive , indecent, obscene or menacing conversations about the sexual abuse of children, sharing indecent photos of children and an intimate picture of a woman between October 22 and November 14, 2023. The Sunday Mail can reveal Eccles, 44, worked for the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) as a legal adviser for several years until at least late 2023. The SYP has come under fire for failing to handle previous allegations of sexual harassment by its young members. After allegations about a former SYP chief were published by the Sunday Mail in 2022, the organisation vowed to carry out a policy review to ensure it had acted properly on the claims. The review was done while Eccles was working for it but a spokesman insisted he played no part in the review. Eccles, who was a partner at law firm Brodies until 2020, was also the director of the Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians Rugby Football Club (GHA RFC) until April this year, resigning just weeks before admitting to his vile child sex abuse crimes. During his time at the club he was involved in governance reviews for the organisation. A spokesman for the SYP said: “Alan Eccles served as an external legal adviser to the SYP executive and board until late 2023. At no point did he interface with the broader SYP membership or any member data. “While none of the charges relate to SYP, we have continually strengthened our safeguarding guidelines and procedures in line with evolving national child protection policies.” Eccles will be on the sex offenders’ register for three years. He remains registered as a solicitor according to the Law Society of Scotland’s website.