Former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke sexually assaulted a woman and told her “we’re all at it” as he chased her around his home, a court has heard.
The woman’s brother, who cannot be named due to laws protecting the identity of the complainant, told jurors his sister was “hysterical” and “could hardly get her words out” when she phoned him to tell him what had happened.
The alleged incident took place at Elphicke’s family home in central London in 2007, three years before he was elected to represent Dover in Parliament.
The court heard that Elphicke, who was 36 at the time, tried to kiss the woman then groped her breast and chased her around his home while trying to grab her bottom. His wife Natalie was away while his children were upstairs asleep, the jury was told.
The witness told the trial at Southwark Crown Court that he spoke with his sister face-to-face a couple of days after her initial phone call, and she disclosed further details.
“I’m a naughty Tory, we’re all at it”
He told the court: “She said he (Elphicke) was saying, ‘I’m a naughty Tory, we’re all at it’.
“She said she was sat down having a glass of wine with him at his request. He made advances towards her and made a lunge at her.
“She was upset. She found it hard to give a systematic account. She said she was ‘attacked’, she was ‘assaulted’, words like that.
“She indicated it was a sexual assault, he tried to grope her in sexual places and tried to kiss her. She told me she pushed him away.”
Defence counsel Ian Winter QC said the brother’s police statement, taken a decade later, made no mention of the phrase “we’re all at it”, and suggested it was a detail added to his account following conversations with his sister.
Mr Winter said: “The reality is you have talked about this with your sister and that’s why you’ve got more details and information for us today than you had before.”
The witness replied: “No, that’s not the case at all.”
Hysterical
The brother also described the first phone call he received during which his sister told him what had happened.
He said: “She was very upset on the phone. She was hysterical, in a bit of a state, she could hardly get her words out properly.
“She didn’t go into much detail… she said she had been attacked.”
Earlier, the woman’s sister described receiving a similar call moments after the incident.
She told the court: “(My sister) phoned, she was quite distressed, she was talking quickly. I had to ask her to calm down.
“She was clearly distressed, she was saying, ‘He chased me round the kitchen’.
“It was a highly emotionally charged situation.
“When I recalled it to my husband (later), it just seemed totally bizarre. It seemed like something out of sketch show Benny Hill.”
Three counts of sexual assault
The MP, 49, is also accused of sexually assaulting a second woman, in 2016, who worked in Parliament during the defendant’s time as an MP.
Elphicke, Dover MP from 2010 until 2019 when he stood down and was succeeded by his wife, denies three counts of sexual assault.
The trial continues.
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