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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Bill McLoughlin

Labour MP Stella Creasy reveals she was threatened with gang rape at Cambridge University

Stella Creasy spoke of the sexual harassment she suffered at university

(Picture: Getty Images)

Labour MP Stella Creasy has revealed she was threatened with gang rape by students at Cambridge Unviersity.

The Walthamstow MP studied psychology at Magdalene College from 1996 to 1999 and ran to become student council president during her first year at university.

In an interview with GB News, Ms Creasy said it was during that time when she first experienced sexual harassment where some young men threatened to “gang rape” her.

She said: “I’ll never forget the night that I was in a room with them all and they threatened to gang rape me, let alone the posters that they put up around the college when I had the temerity to stand for a position in the student union, telling people not to vote for me because of who I’d slept with.

“And that happened at a Cambridge college.

“I was held up and I was admonished by the college authorities at the time because they chose to believe the idea that I was probably ‘a wronged woman’.

“And, as I say, it took public humiliation, and posters, and finally other people coming forward, and me collating the evidence – of all the notes, the spitting in my room, the rubbish that was thrown at me, the sexual abuse and harassment if I tried to walk into the bar, that came from this group of young men.”

She also spoke of her distress after running into the same men, who had become doctors, civil servants and “high flyers” several years later.

“I’m in my mid-40s now and it’s the first time I’ve really felt even willing to talk about it,” she said.

“It was terrifying at the time, I’m terrified I’ll ever run into those young men again.”

A Cambridge spokesperson said: “We are extremely sorry to hear of the horrific ordeal which Stella Creasy experienced. Sexual harassment of any sort has absolutely no place at the university.

“In recent years the university has taken significant steps in order to provide support for victims of sexual misconduct, to improve systems for reporting any incidents, and to take action as a result.

“We urge anyone who experiences any form of harassment or abuse to report it so that they can be offered support and action can be taken.

“The university employs a sexual assault and harassment adviser to provide specialist support to victims.”

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