The former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke has admitted not telling police the truth when they asked him about one of the women he is accused of sexually assaulting, saying he feared it would destroy his marriage.
Giving evidence at his trial on Monday, he also admitted trying to cover up a separate affair with another woman, who is not one of the two complainants, for similar reasons.
Elphicke said he did not tell the police in interview that he had feelings for the complainant, who was in her 20s at the time of the alleged assault. “I didn’t know how to explain it to Natalie [Elphicke]– it was an emotional attachment. I think she would be very hurt and I didn’t want that.”
He added: “I thought that ... I didn’t know how to tell Natalie I had developed an emotional attachment. I thought she would be very hurt ... I had lost my head. I didn’t want to put my marriage in jeopardy, and it would cause chaos.”
The former MP told the court he signed an incorrect statement, given to police in January 2020, when he said he had not made advances towards the complainant. He acknowledged this was not true. “I had dug myself into such a big hole I didn’t know how to get out of it. It was a terrible mistake. I’m sorry.”
He added: “I should not have lied to the police, I should have just fronted it up. I should have told the whole truth rather than half of the truth.”
The complainant has accused Elphicke of groping her breast in April 2016, then running his hand up her leg in a second incident the following month.
Referring to the affair he tried to keep secret, he said: “After I was suspended, there were a lot of rumours. She [Mrs Elphicke] challenged me about it. I basically denied it. I didn’t think I could explain to Natalie – I didn’t think my marriage would survive this.”
Elphicke broke down as he answered questions from his defence counsel, Ian Winter QC, at Southwark crown court.
The father-of-two is also accused of groping a woman in her 30s before chasing her around his central London home chanting “I’m a naughty Tory” in 2007.
Elphicke, who was the MP for Dover between 2010 and 2019, told police he kissed the woman, who he said was feeding him chocolate and had become “tactile” in the moments before, but stopped as soon as she said it was not what she wanted. He said the woman later accepted his apology and that he had been “under a misapprehension”.
The jury has heard that he had shared some wine with the woman and they had been chatting together. The conversation became “flirty, more fun”, he told the court. “I came to the conclusion that we wanted to kiss because we were in this sort of silly moment. In a moment of extreme stupidity I forgot who I was ... I forgot where I was. I kissed her. And she kissed me back.”
Elphicke, 49, denies sexually assaulting the two complainants. None of the women can be named for legal reasons.
The trial continues.
