Norman Ewart Ker Pender (1 February 1948 – 24 August 2021) was a Scotland international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. After rugby, he became a Liberal Democrat councillor. He was found guilty of sexual assault in 2014. He died from a suspected heart attack in August 2021, at the age of 73.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Pender played club rugby for

Hawick Trades Hawick Trades is a former rugby union club based in Hawick, in the Scottish Borders. They played in the Border League until 2004. History The club began in 1946. It was founded after the Second War by Hawick apprentices; based on a Combined Tr ...

and then

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

Provincial career

Pender was capped by South of Scotland District.

International career

Pender was capped for Scotland 'B' three times between 1975 and 1977. He earned four caps for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Political career

Pender was a councillor for the Liberal Democrats on the Scottish Borders Council between 1998 and 2003.

Indecent behaviour

Pender was charged with rape in October 2013, and was found guilty of three charges of lewd and libidinous behavior, and one charge of sexual assault in December 2013. The rape charge was

not proven Not proven (, ) is a verdict available to a Courts of Scotland, court of law in Scotland. Under Scots law, a Criminal procedure, criminal trial may end in one of three verdicts, one of conviction ("guilty") and two of acquittal ("not proven" and ...

. He was jailed for six years in 2014 and placed on the sex offenders’ register. In 2018 he was sued for £650,000 in damages by one of the victims.

References

1948 births 2021 deaths Rugby union players from Yorkshire Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Hawick RFC players Hawick Trades players Scotland 'B' international rugby union players South of Scotland District (rugby union) players Rugby union props {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub