THE election agent to Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard is facing jail after telling an undercover detective he wanted to rape a child.

Former North Lanarkshire Councillor David Fagan was convicted on Thursday after sending messages about incest and child abuse to an officer posing as a single mother.

Sheriff Frank Pieri told jurors the evidence heard at the trial had been “frankly repulsive”.

Mr Fagan, 53, was Mr Leonard’s agent in the 2016 Holyrood election in Airdrie & Shotts.

His job was to manage Mr Leonard’s election campaign and, in particular, its finances.

Mr Leonard failed to win the seat, but entered parliament as a Central Scotland list MSP.

Mr Fagan also worked previously as a parliamentary assistant to former Labour MSP Karen Whitefield and former MP Pamela Nash, now chief executive of the Scotland in Union group.

The four day trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court heard Mr Fagan, a father of two, visited websites to investigate “taboo” subjects, including having sex with a parent and child.

He shared his incest fantasies with an undercover policewoman, who told him she was a 40-year-old mother of three from London.

Police categorised him as “high risk” and arrested him after the sting operation in late 2016.

The trial heard claims Mr Fagan had agreed to pay £100 to meet the woman and rape one of her children in her presence. He denied the charge but admitted depraved thoughts.

The self-confessed porn addict told the court: “I developed this fantasy round having sex with a parent and a daughter. The fact that it was taboo made the fantasy even stronger.

“But I did not take steps for that fantasy to come true. I was not interested in actually sexually abusing children - that is the truth.”

The jury found a charged that Mr Fagan conspired to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex while another girl, aged 12, was present not proven.

Prosecutor Liam Haggart told the jury: “The investigators were in no doubt about what they were dealing with and neither should you be.”

Allan Macleod, defending, said Mr Fagan was acting out a fantasy and had no interest in abusing children.

Mr Fagan was put on the sex offenders’ registers and his bail was continued.

Sentencing was deferred until next month after the sheriff called for background reports.

In previous court hearings, it emerged Mr Fagan was arrested at his home on 7 September 2016 in relation to offences alleged to have taken place between May and August.

Mr Fagan’s case led to claims of a cover-up within Scottish Labour last year.

North Lanarkshire Council's Labour leader Jim Logue and his deputy Paul Kelly were informed of the arrest and the “broad nature” of the alleged offences on September 8.

Scottish Labour general secretary Brian Roy also became aware of the arrest - but not specific charges - the same day and wrote to Police Scotland asking for more information.

However Labour did not suspend Mr Fagan for another three weeks.

At the time, the local Labour party was fighting an intense council byelection in an SNP-held part of Coatbridge, and there were claims - strongly denied - that Labour hushed up Mr Fagan’s arrest to avoid a scandal during the contest.

Jeremy Corbyn campaigned alongside Labour’s candidate in the race, Alex McVey, posing for pictures with him in Lanarkshire a week after Mr Fagan was arrested.

Mr McVey won by less than 200 votes, and Labour suspended Mr Fagan a week later.

The position of election agent is not a permanent one, and only applies one election at a time.

However many politicians keep the same election agent throughout their careers.

A Scottish Labour spokesman: "David Fagan is no longer a member of the Labour Party."