Tory MP claims sex offender Imran Ahmad Khan ‘did not get fair trial’

Khan is due to be sentenced tomorrow having been convicted last month of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.

Following the verdict at Southwark Crown Court, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt had said that Khan was the victim of a “dreadful miscarriage of justice”.

He later retracted the statement and stepped down from the chairmanship of an all party parliamentary group on LGBT issues.

However, he has now stood by his earlier defence.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Blunt said: “I didn’t know Imran – I got to know him in the first few weeks of 2019 and 2020 and thoroughly enjoyed his company and could well see why he’d be a terrific parliamentarian with an enormous amount to contribute.

“And so this issue, then, arising for me is … his conviction. And I don’t want to … I saw what happened (at the trial). I remain totally convinced.”

Mr Blunt admitted he did not attend the whole trial, but said: “I know what decisions were made within the trial, which meant that, in my judgment, he did not get a fair trial or anything remotely like that.”

Pressed on whether he still believes that now, he said: “Yes, I do.”

The MP for Reigate told the Politics South East programme that he was not in court for witness evidence.

Asked if he therefore thought he knew more than the jury, he said: “Yes inevitably, because quite a lot of the trial was conducted without the jury being present.”

Mr Blunt, who has been in Parliament since 1997, has said he will stand down at the next General Election.