Noel Boyd

Introduction

Noel Boyd is a social care worker who was employed as a support practitioner by The Richmond Fellowship Scotland, and who has been banned from the profession after being convicted of sending inappropriate messages regarding sexual activity to a girl who he believed was under the age of 13. The ‘girl’ was in fact an undercover police officer, meaning there was no real child on the receiving end of the messages. Boyd was convicted at Stirling Sheriff Court over messages sent between November 27, 2023 and November 29, 2023. The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), the regulator that keeps the register of the social service workforce in Scotland and that workers must be on to hold registered social care roles, went on to remove him from that register. The ban was reported by STV News on 9 June 2025.

Background Information

Boyd worked as a support practitioner for The Richmond Fellowship Scotland, a position in social care, the sector whose vulnerable service users the SSSC exists to protect.

Between November 27, 2023 and November 29, 2023, Boyd sent inappropriate messages regarding sexual activity to someone he believed was a girl under the age of 13. The person he was writing to was in fact an undercover police officer. In the exchange, Boyd asked for images from her and from her school friends, and he attempted to communicate indecently with a younger child.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Boyd’s conviction at Stirling Sheriff Court is a criminal conviction and a matter of court record, not an unproven allegation. The findings recorded against him by the Scottish Social Services Council were regulatory adjudications on his fitness to remain a registered worker. The ‘girl’ in the messaging was in fact an undercover police officer, so there was no real child victim in the messages; the conviction relates to sending messages regarding sexual activity to someone Boyd believed was under the age of 13.

The offending window was three days long: between November 27, 2023 and November 29, 2023, Boyd sent inappropriate messages regarding sexual activity to a girl who he believed was under the age of 13. The ‘girl’ was an undercover police officer. He asked her for images from her and from her school friends, and he attempted to communicate indecently with a younger child. For that course of messages he was convicted at Stirling Sheriff Court.

What turned a criminal matter into a professional one was Boyd’s silence about it. He failed to disclose that he had been charged with the offence while he was still employed as a support practitioner by The Richmond Fellowship Scotland, meaning he remained in a social care role after being charged with sending sexual messages to a person he believed was a child, without telling the employer who relied on him. The Scottish Social Services Council subsequently banned him from the profession.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The Scottish Social Services Council found that Boyd’s behaviour displayed “a disregard for the wellbeing of vulnerable people.” Its report outlined: “The behaviour raises significant public protection concerns.” It continued: “There is a clear need to protect vulnerable individuals who use social services, in particular children, from the risks associated with your behaviour.” The report added that there would be substantial concerns if he were allowed to continue working with vulnerable people.

Against that assessment, the outcome was the loss of his registration altogether: Boyd was banned from the profession and struck from the SSSC register, the list of social service workers in Scotland that care employers check before hiring and that workers must be on to hold registered roles. The ban was reported by STV News on 9 June 2025.

Current Status

Boyd is banned from the social service profession and removed from the SSSC register, which social care workers in Scotland need to be on to work in registered services. His conviction stands as a matter of record at Stirling Sheriff Court. The source report contains no details of any sentence imposed for the offence, and no appeal was reported.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The ban ends Boyd’s work as a support practitioner and closes off registered social care work in Scotland more broadly, since employment in registered services depends on the SSSC registration he has now been stripped of. The regulator’s language — a “disregard for the wellbeing of vulnerable people”, “significant public protection concerns”, and “substantial concerns” about allowing him to work with vulnerable people — attaches to his record alongside the criminal conviction itself, a combination that forecloses any return to the care sector and ties his name publicly, through national coverage by STV News, to messaging a person he believed was a child while employed in a role serving vulnerable people.