A Conservative MP is on trial charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008.
Imran Ahmad Khan, 47, Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the teenager is said to have groped in Staffordshire.
The MP denies the allegation “in the strongest terms”, saying “I am innocent” in a statement posted on Twitter.
Ahmad Khan, who was elected in the 2019 general election, appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday by video link from his law firm.
He can be appointed after the reporting restrictions were lifted on Friday.
In the statement on Twitter, the MP said: “It is true that a charge has been brought against me.
“May I say at the outset that the allegation, which dates back more than 13 years, is denied in the strongest terms.
“This matter moves me deeply and, of course, I take it very seriously.
“To be accused of doing something I didn’t do is shocking, unsettling and traumatic. I am innocent.
“Those, like me, who are falsely accused of such actions are in the difficult position of having to endure damaging and painful speculation until the case is closed.
“I ask for confidentiality while I work to clear my name.”
The charge, which was read in court, says: ‘In the county of Staffordshire you intentionally touched a 15 year old boy and that contact was sexual when he did not consent and you did not reasonably believed he was consenting, contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offenses Act 2003. “
Asked to argue in favor of the prosecution, Ahmad Khan, who was represented by Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC, said: “Not guilty”.
It is understood that the whip was suspended from the MP, meaning he will not sit as a Tory in the House of Commons, when Chief Whip Mark Spencer was briefed on the charges.
Chief Justice Paul Goldspring said the case was unsuitable for trial in the district court and referred the case to the Old Bailey, with Ahmad Khan due to appear on the 15th …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-18 15:50:00
