Credit;PA
Former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke chased a woman around his kitchen and chanted “I’m a naughty Tory” after sexually assaulting her, a court has heard.
The woman was said to have been “distressed, almost hysterical” after the ex-Dover MP allegedly groped her breast and tried to kiss her while his wife Natalie Elphicke was away, a jury was told.
Southwark Crown Court heard the alleged victim, who was in her early thirties, was “flattered” when Elphicke – 36 at the time – had invited her to share a drink with him.
He opened a bottle of £40 wine and began asking her about her sexual interests, including if she liked “lace and leather”, and saying he liked “bondage and whips”, jurors were told.
Prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC said Elphicke was alleged to have told the woman to come towards him so he could top up her wine glass.
He then assaulted her on the sofa, reaching into her top to grope her right breast and trying to kiss her, the court heard.
The prosecutor said: “She (the alleged victim) immediately shouted: ‘No!’
“She was shocked. The whole incident was completely unexpected.
“He was chanting in a sing-song way: ‘I’m a naughty Tory, I’m a naughty Tory’, as though it was the school playground.”
The alleged victim said he was “very animated, excited and clearly enjoying himself”.
She said Elphicke chased her around the home, trying to smack her bottom.
The jury was told the alleged victim “felt horrified by the entire situation”.
She was said to have telephoned a friend about what had happened, with the incident being described as sounding “like a sketch from The Benny Hill Show”.
The jury heard that what the friend had heard from the alleged victim on the phone “gave her real cause for concern”.
The woman was also said to have phoned her brother after the incident, who described her as sounding “distressed, and almost hysterical”.
Elphicke denies three counts of sexual assault – one against the woman in 2007, and two counts against a parliamentary worker in her early twenties on two occasions in 2016.
The parliamentary worker is alleged to have reported the incident to Anne Milton MP, the Conservative deputy chief whip, in 2016, before contacting police the following year.
The court heard Elphicke was called in to speak to Ms Milton but “completely denied” anything that the woman had alleged against him – sexual assaults or any other behaviour.
Elphicke was elected MP for Dover in 2010 and held the seat until standing down at the general election in December 2019.
He was accompanied to court by Mrs Elphicke, his successor as Dover MP.
The trial continues.
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