Imran Ahmad Khan trial: Yorkshire MP charged in sex case ‘lifted teenager’s kilt at party’ Yorkshire News

Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, who was elected MP for Wakefield in West Yorkshire in 2019, was at a house party in Staffordshire in January 2008 at the time of the alleged incidents, a jury was told.

Prosecutor Sean Larkin QC said an 18-year-old man was at the party wearing a kilt when Khan asked if he was wearing the kilt like “a true Scotsman”.

“Khan then lifted his kilt with both hands and lunged at him in a way that he thought he was going to grab him,” Larkin said.

The teenager pulled down his kilt and said that although he had experience of others trying to lift it up, the incident “felt very different”, the court heard.

Jurors were told the 15-year-old brother was in bed on the top bunk in his pajamas and could hear Khan’s “breathing getting pretty heavy” as he sexually assaulted him.

Mr Larkin said: “When (the complainant) went to bed, Khan stood by the top bunk, reached in and touched his legs, reaching or touching his groin. We’re suggesting either way that it was sexual assault.

“He pushed him, but he kept going and when he didn’t stop, he ran away.”

The court heard that the complainant, who cannot be identified because she is the alleged victim of a sexual offence, was “distressed” when she reached her parents.

Police were called to the home and the boy reported the incident, telling officers that Khan had asked him to “show me some porn” and told him he was a “handsome kid,” the jury was told.

The 15-year-old did not want to go any further and the accusation was not prosecuted at the time, but the complainant returned to the police when he discovered that Khan was presenting himself as a deputy, the prosecutor said.

Khan, from Wakefield, helped Prime Minister Boris Johnson win a large majority in the House of Commons in 2019 by seizing the constituency on the so-called “red wall” that had formed the heart of the Labor Party in the Midlands and North England.

Larkin said Khan was not interviewed at the police station due to the pandemic, but was sent a list of questions.

“In short, he denied that there had been a sexual assault,” the prosecutor said.

Khan said the boy had asked him about “sexuality” before he “got distraught and left”, and that the only time he touched him was on the elbow after he had gotten out of bed.

The MP sat behind his lawyer Gudrun Young QC in court, rather than the dock, as High Court Judge Justice Baker explained that the microphones were not working.

During jury selection, the judge asked prospective panel members, “Do any of you have strong enough political views that you can’t take the case to trial?” and whether they, or any member of their close family, were members of a political party. .

Khan, who is out on unconditional bail, denies a single count of sexual assault, charging that he intentionally touched the complainant and the touching was sexual when the complainant did not consent and Khan did not reasonably believe he consented.