Politics

Leader of Reform UK in Hampshire charged with 35 offences, including 12 counts of rape

Reform UK councillor George Madgwick has been charged with 35 offences against four victims, including 12 counts of rape.

Madgwick, who is the leader of Reform UK in Hampshire, was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service with the offences, which allegedly took place between 2008 and 2021 in Portsmouth and Wales.

The 37-year-old faces charges including rape, sexual assault, controlling or coercive behaviour, and making indecent images of a child against four victims, who were aged 16 and 17 at the time.

Madgwick is due to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on 25 November.

He has been suspended by Reform UK with immediate effect following the CPS’ announcement, the Independent reports.

The investigation into him started in July 2025, after Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary received a report of a sexual offence.

The force said it first arrested Madgwick on 6 January 2026, before he was charged by the CPS on Tuesday.

In total, Madgwick has been charged with:

  • 12 counts of rape
  • Two counts of assault by penetration
  • Two counts of sexual assault
  • Two counts of making indecent images of children
  • Two counts of controlling or coercive behaviour
  • Eight counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm
  • One charge each of causing or inciting sexual exploitation of a child, distributing an indecent image of a child, stalking, making threats to kill, false imprisonment, theft and criminal damage

Madgwick represents North East Havant on Hampshire County Council and Paulsgrove on Portsmouth City Council.

A CPS spokesperson said: “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to bring the case to court.

“We remind all concerned that proceedings against the defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial. There should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information which could in anyway prejudice these proceedings.”

Charlie Herbert

Charlie is content editor and writer at the London Economic. With a keen interest in politics, he has worked on both the 2019 and 2024 general elections, and joined TLE full time in January 2025. Since then, it's safe to say there's been plenty to keep him busy on both sides of the Atlantic.

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