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Metropolitan Police seek bail extension for rape-accused Tory MP [1]

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Date: 2023-05

Police say they need more time to investigate a Conservative MP who was arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault over a year ago.

The MP, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested in May 2022 on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault, rape and other related offences.

He has been bailed four times since his arrest, but police are now seeking to extend his bail for a fifth time.

openDemocracy reported earlier this month that the Conservative Party had given him the green light to stand in the next general election.

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While on bail, he has shared images of himself interacting with children and teenagers in his local community. The Tories declined to withdraw the whip following the arrest, though the MP agreed not to attend Westminster while the investigation was going on.

He has continued receiving personal donations and gifts in the meantime, including a “private holiday” funded by a donor linked to an all-party parliamentary group on which he sits.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “In January 2020, the Met received a report relating to alleged sexual offences having been committed between 2002 and 2009. The offences are alleged to have occurred in London.

“An investigation is ongoing, led by officers from Central Specialist Crime. A man, aged in his 50s, was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault, rape, abuse of position of trust and misconduct in public office.

“He was taken into custody and has since been bailed pending further enquiries to a date in mid-May 2023; an extension to his bail is being sought.”

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/conservative-mp-rape-sexual-assault-bail-extended/

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