Police receive report on MP sex claim

A council report into misconduct by MP Mike Hancock has been handed to police – raising the prospect that the politician could face charges over an alleged indecent assault on a constituent.

Portsmouth City Council said it was now up to the Hampshire force to determine if there is new evidence in the report and whether it should be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Mr Hancock, MP for Portsmouth South in addition to being a city councillor, has always strongly denied the allegations relating to a “vulnerable” woman constituent.

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But he faces a standards hearing after the report released last month concluded that he failed to observe the council’s code of conduct. The 67-year-old politician temporarily stood down from the parliamentary Liberal Democrat party in June to fight a High Court civil dispute about similar matters from the same woman.

Mr Hancock has never been charged with any offence after the CPS decided not to prosecute following his arrest on suspicion of indecent assault in 2010. It is not clear whether the politician will be issuing a statement.