Ex-Tory MP an ‘accomplished liar’ who deceived police, bosses and wife, court told

Former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke is an “accomplished liar” who deceived the police, his bosses in the Tory party and his wife after being accused of sexual assaults, a jury has heard.

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC accused the 49-year-old of lying to the jury in denials that he assaulted two women a decade apart.

She said witness testimonies from the complainants were “almost identical” to each other, despite being from two women who did not know each other.

In her closing speech at Southwark Crown Court, the prosecutor said: “Charlie Elphicke is an accomplished liar, and he assaulted these women in exactly the way they described.

“He is guilty of all three counts on this indictment, and you can be sure of that.”

Father-of-two Mr Elphicke is on trial accused of three counts of sexual assault. One against a woman aged in her early 30s at his London home in 2007, and two in 2016 involving a parliamentary worker aged in her early 20s he had propositioned. Neither was sexually interested in him, the court heard.

Ms Marshall told the eight women and three men on the jury: “Two women, from very different walks of life, different ages, different jobs — who both suffered very similar assaults at the hands of Charlie Elphicke.

“It is accepted there is no evidence of collusion.

“That brings the question — police have these accounts from two women, nine years apart, that are very similar.

“If you agree that these assaults are similar, the question you ask is could it possibly be a coincidence?”

The court previously heard that it was claimed Mr Elphicke chanted “I’m a naughty Tory” while chasing the first complainant around his house, while he allegedly said “I’m so naughty sometimes” after the first alleged assault on the second woman in 2016.

He denies the allegations.

The prosecutor said: “The reason we say it’s important [Mr Elphicke allegedly using the phrase ‘naughty Tory’] is that it’s so similar to the sort of language Charlie Elphicke used to describe himself when he did exactly the same thing to [the second woman].

“It can’t be a coincidence.”

Mr Elphicke admitted to police in 2018 that he kissed the first complainant under a “misapprehension” but denies sexual assault.

He also lied to Tory Party whips, feigning shock at the accusations made against him by that second complainant, the court heard.

Mr Elphicke also told police he had a sexual relationship with a third woman — not a complainant in this trial — but distanced himself from the parliamentary worker, later telling the jury that disclosing his feelings for her to police, and therefore his wife, would end his marriage.

None of the women can be identified for legal reasons.

The prosecutor told jurors on Thursday: “Charlie Elphicke knows full well that he sexually assaulted [the two women] and he has tried to lie to you about it.

“He has no more looked you in the eye and told you the truth than he looked his wife in the eye and told her about his relationships, looked the whips in the eye and denied the assaults, looked the police in the eye and lied to them.”

Mr Elphicke, Dover MP from 2010 until he stood down in 2019 when he was succeeded by his wife, Natalie Elphicke, denies all charges.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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