Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan found guilty of sexually assaulting 15-year-old in 2008
Jurors at Southwark Crown Court heard that Khan forced the 15-year-old boy to drink gin and tonic before he dragged him upstairs, pushed him on to a bed and asked him to watch pornography during the incident at a house in Staffordshire.
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Hide AdThe victim told the court that he was not “taken very seriously” when he came forward to the Conservative Party press office about the allegation shortly before Khan won the West Yorkshire seat at the 2019 general election.
Khan had attempted to keep key details of the case such as his own name restricted from public view, as he tried to gag the media through court orders.
Labour have called for Khan’s immediate resignation as an MP, “so a by-election can take place and the people of Wakefield can get the representation they deserve”.
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Hide AdThe victim, now 29, told a jury he was left feeling “scared, vulnerable, numb, shocked and surprised” after Khan touched his feet and legs, coming within “a hair’s breadth” of his privates, as he went to sleep in a top bunkbed.
He ran to his parents and a police report was made at the time, but no further action was taken because the youngster did not want to make a formal complaint.
The victim said he “vividly” remembered the gin bottle Khan took to the party, the smell of the spirit in the glass tumbler, and the fizz of the bubbles as he was forced by Khan to drink the cocktail.
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Hide AdHe said Khan also watched him do pull-ups, asked him to watch pornography and told him he was “good looking” in a “love whisper” in his ear, which was “disgusting and really slimy”.
The victim said he pretended to be asleep in the top bunkbed before Khan reached through the wooden bars to touch his feet.
“He was drunk because I could hear his heavy breathing,” he said.
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Hide AdThe complainant said the “slow caressing” continued as Khan “worked his way around the bed” and “up my leg”, despite him telling the MP to stop.
He said he “froze”, adding: “I freaked out and jumped out of the bed and ran as fast as I could.”
He told jurors “it all came flooding back” when he learned Khan was standing in the December 2019 election.
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Hide AdDays ahead of the poll, the victim said he contacted the Conservative Party press office, to tell them what Khan had done to him, but added: “I wasn’t taken very seriously.”
Khan, who was sent a questionnaire by Staffordshire Police rather than being interviewed under caution at a station because of “Covid protocols in place at the time”, denied sexual assault.
The MP, who is gay and a Muslim, claims he only touched the Catholic teenager’s elbow when he “became extremely upset” after a conversation about his confused sexuality.
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Hide AdKhan, then 34, said he was trying to be “kind” and “helpful”, but the teenager became upset and “bolted” when the topic of pornography was raised.
The judge released Khan on bail, telling him: “You have been convicted by a jury of this offence of sexual assault and you will have to be sentenced in due course.
“I make it clear that all sentencing options, including immediate custody, are being considered by the court.”
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Hide AdKhan was elected to represent Wakefield on a majority of more than 3,300 in December 2019.
He was the town’s first Conservative MP since 1932 and was thought of as being one of the so-called Red Wall victories, as Tory candidates won swathes of seats across Labour’s traditional heartlands.
He defeated Labour’s Mary Creagh, who had been MP for almost 15 years.
Ms Creagh tweeted in support of the victim, who she credited with “immense courage to come forward”.
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