Rotherham abuse survivor Sammy Woodhouse says Conservatives 'must launch' investigation into how they dealt with Khan allegations

The Conservatives “must launch an independent investigation” into how they reacted to allegations against former Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan, Rotherham abuse survivor Sammy Woodhouse has said.
Former MP Imran Ahmad Khan arrives at Southwark Crown Court, south London, where he was jailed for 18 months for a single count of sexual assault against a 15-year-old boyFormer MP Imran Ahmad Khan arrives at Southwark Crown Court, south London, where he was jailed for 18 months for a single count of sexual assault against a 15-year-old boy
Former MP Imran Ahmad Khan arrives at Southwark Crown Court, south London, where he was jailed for 18 months for a single count of sexual assault against a 15-year-old boy

Ms Woodhouse has claimed the party’s silence on the issue has “broken the trust of victims” as she backed Labour’s calls for an inquiry into how they dealt with the issues.

Khan was jailed for 18 months earlier this week having been convicted of the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy in 2008.

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The victim told the court he was not “taken very seriously” when he made the allegation to the Tory press office days before Khan was elected to represent the West Yorkshire seat in 2019.

Ms Woodhouse, who survived years of sexual abuse, said: “How can a major political party take a call off a victim saying he’d been abused as a child, do nothing, and then allow him to be an MP?

“It’s gut wrenching and has broken the trust of survivors like me.”

“Their arrogant refusal to answer serious questions over this has left me questioning what they have to hide.”

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“They must launch an independent investigation into this scandal.”

Ms Woodhouse has previously said she was “disgusted” to discover she had worked with Khan reviewing a Home Office paper on child exploitation.

Last month, Sheffield MP and Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh wrote to Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden to ask what the party had known and when about the allegations.

Having had no response to the letter, Ms Haigh has no said the “failure to answer basic questions has given the impression of a cover-up”.

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“Khan’s victim told the Conservatives about sickening sexual abuse, and they did nothing.”

“How could they possibly have put victims in this position, and left the people of Wakefield without a voice?”

Ms Haigh added: “They must launch an independent investigation into their sickening failure to act, and into the Conservative Party’s processes for dealing with reports of serious sexual assault so that no victim is ever put in this position again.”

Southwark Crown Court heard how Khan forced the then teenager to drink gin and tonic and asked him to watch pornography before the attack at a house in Staffordshire following a party in January 2008.

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The victim, who cannot be identified said he was left feeling “scared, vulnerable, numb, shocked and surprised” after Khan, then 34, touched his feet and legs, coming within “a hair’s breadth” of his privates, as he went to sleep in a top bunkbed.

Khan had the whip suspended in 2021 when the allegations first made headlines, and was kicked out of the Conservative Party last month following his conviction.

Khan has maintained his innocence and has said he will appeal the conviction.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab declined to back such an investigation when asked in the House of Commons yesterday.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “We have found no record of such a complaint being made.”