A former MP who dubbed himself a ‘Naughty Tory’ as he groped two women is facing jail today after being convicted of sexual assault.
Charlie Elphicke, 49, pounced on one of his victims as they shared a glass of wine , talking “suggestively” about bondage and whips before plunging his hand down her blouse.
When she tried to flee, Elphicke chased her round the kitchen trying to slap her bottom “like a sketch from a Benny Hill” and chanted “I’m a naughty Tory” in the 2007 incident, Southwark crown court heard.
The married MP sexually assaulted a second woman, a Parliamentary staffer, after he had been elected to the Dover seat, trying to kiss her and putting his hand down her top in a Westminster office.
He wept in the witness box during his trial as he admitted to cheating on his wife, but denied all suggestions of non-consensual sexual activity.
At court this afternoon, a jury found him guilty of three counts of sexual assault, leaving him facing a possible prison sentence.
Elphicke, a qualified lawyer from Dover, stood down from his Parliamentary seat to fight the criminal charges. His wife, Natalie, who has since become the MP for Dover , has supported him at court through the legal proceedings.
After the guilty verdicts were delivered, Mrs Justice Whipple released Elphicke on bail until sentencing in September, but warned: “There is a very real possibility he faces immediate custody.”
Elphicke, the MP for Dover from 2010 to 2019, carried out the first attack at his family home while his wife was away and his two children were asleep upstairs.
The victim, a woman in her 30s, was sharing a bottle of wine with him when he turned the conversation to suggestive topics, discussing silk, leather, bondage and whips.
“He tried to kiss me and I moved my head, he pushed me down by my shoulders, he had his knee between my legs and he was groping my breast”, she told the court. “I was just shocked – really, really shocked.”
The woman said she tried to get away but Elphicke pursued her around the kitchen while attempting to continue the assault, eventually forcing her to barricaded herself in another room.
“As he followed her, he chanted in a sing-song voice ‘I’m a naughty Tory, I’m a naughty Tory’ over and over again as if a school ground chant”, said prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC.
“He was very animated, excitable, and clearly enjoying himself, chanting towards her and slapping her bottom.”
The second victim, in her early 20s, was alone with Elphicke in Parliament in 2016 when he moved in for a “disgusting slobbery” kiss and grabbed hold of her.
She spurned his advances but Elphicke carried out a second attack the following month.
The woman complained to the Conservative Party and Elphicke was quizzed by deputy chief whip Anne Milton, flatly denying the allegations.
In a second showdown, he was accompanied by his friend, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who is said to have “castigated” the whips office for the way the investigation was handled.
In 2017 Elphicke’s name appeared on a notorious leaked list of MPs, alleging they were involved in sexual misconduct, and the woman in the 2007 incident then came forward to complain to police about the attack on her.
In the trial, Elphicke admitted lying to police, misleading Mr Grieve, and cheating on his wife with a third woman.
He insisted the first sexual assault was merely a “misunderstanding” and said the second victim’s account was untrue.
Elphicke was stripped of the Tory whip in 2017 when first placed under investigation, but it was controversially restored in time for a Parliamentary confidence to prop up then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership.
The whip was withdrawn again when Elphicke was charged with criminal offences.
Natalie Dawson, CPS Specialist Prosecutor, said: “Charles Elphicke abused his power and influence over these women to make unwanted and forceful sexual advances towards them.
“The assaults have had a profound impact on these women – who feared for their careers if they reported him.
“Elphicke has lied repeatedly about his conduct and failed to take responsibility for his behaviour and the harm suffered by his victims."
Elphicke, of Dover, Kent, denied three counts of sexual assault. He will return to court on September 15 to be sentenced.