Charlie Elphicke: Former Tory MP accused of groping two women says he was ‘besotted’ with alleged victim

Ex-MP for Dover charged with three counts of sexual assault

Charlie Elphicke arriving at Southwark Crown Court in London with his wife Natalie Elphicke (PA)

A married former Conservative MP accused of groping two women has said he was “besotted” with one of his alleged victims, as a court was told that the reported assaults happened nearly a decade apart in “almost identical” circumstances.

Charlie Elphicke, who represented Dover from 2010 until 2019, has repeatedly denied assaulting the two complainants. He admitted on Tuesday that he wanted to have an affair with one of the women, who he described as “just amazing”.

The first sexual assault was alleged to have taken place at Mr Elphicke’s London home in 2007.

Speaking at Southwark Crown Court, the 49-year-old said he had attempted to kiss the woman as he believed she had “responded positively” to his initial approaches, before realising it was not what she wanted.

Mr Elphicke later apologised to the woman for the “misapprehension”, he told the court.

The woman, in her thirties at the time, has accused Mr Elphicke of sexually assaulting her, grabbing her breast and then chasing her around the house while chanting “I’m a naughty Tory”.

The second complainant is a parliamentary worker in her early twenties who the former MP propositioned and allegedly groped in April 2016.

She also accused him of running his hand up her leg towards her groin in a separate incident the following month.

Mr Elphicke, who is married to his successor as Dover MP, Natalie Elphicke, said he wanted to have a “sexual relationship” with the young woman.

He told the court that he had invited her for a drink in Westminster and told her he liked her, thinking their feelings were “a two-way street”.

“As the evening wore on, I said to [the woman] how much I liked her in many ways and how I had not, er, met someone like her for a very, very long time and how I was clearly liking her a lot,” he said.

When asked by defence counsel Ian Winter QC how he felt about the woman, Mr Elphicke replied: “Besotted. I thought she was just amazing.

“I hadn’t felt like this in years. I thought it was a two-way street and she felt the same about me as I did about her.”

The woman did not feel the same way, the court heard, although Mr Elphicke said he did not initially receive an answer after he propositioned her.

He said: “It was left out there and not answered, really.

“I thought she was thinking about it.”

He denied attempting to kiss the woman or deliberately touching her breast.

“I might have touched her shoulder, her upper arm, I might have touched her hand, but no unusual physical contact,” he said.

The court heard Mr Elphicke also invited the woman to his London home one day and spent hours waiting for her, but she did not show up, leaving him to feel “like a complete idiot”.

Cross-examining Mr Elphicke, prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC said of the second complainant’s evidence: “She appears to be telling lies about you which are almost identical to nine years earlier (involving the woman in her thirties).

“Is it an incredible coincidence these two women are making up – according to you – exactly the same lie?”

Mr Elphicke replied: “I cannot account for what they are saying.

“I can say I did not sexually assault either of these women.”

The prosecutor said: “The issue for this jury is who is lying and who is telling the truth.”

Mr Elphicke – who told jurors he had lied to his wife, lied to police, and had an affair with a third woman who is not a complainant in this case – denies three counts of sexual assault.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA