Police search office 
of Deputy Speaker 
in sex assault probe

Commons Speaker John Bercow said the offices were searched
after an order was granted by Preston Crown Court on Thursday.
He said he had been consulted
before officers entered Parliament.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “We have confirmed that we have searched offices in London in connection with the investigation but it is inappropriate to comment any further other than to say that we have gone through all the appropriate and necessary procedures before taking this step.”

In a statement to MPs at the start of yesterday’s sitting, Speaker
Bercow said: “I wish to report to the house that the rooms
of a member were searched yesterday pursuant to a warrant issued by the circuit judge in Preston Crown Court on 16 May. The warrant related to the investigation of a serious arrestable offence.”

Mr Bercow continued: “I should remind members, as did my predecessor in 2008, that the precincts of parliament are not a haven from the law.”

Mr Evans, 55, who strenuously denies the allegations, has stepped aside from his duties in the Commons though he has not been suspended.

The Tory MP for Ribble Valley was arrested on May 4 on suspicion of raping one man and sexually assaulting another between July 2009 and March 2013.

Speaking to reporters in Westminster on May 7, he said he had been interviewed by police concerning two complaints “made by two people who are well known to each other and, until Saturday, I regarded as friends’’.