Deputy speaker resigns over rape and sexual assault claims

The House of Commons deputy speaker, Nigel Evans, has stepped down after being charged with rape and sexual assaults against seven men, yesterday.

The 55-year-old Tory MP is accused of two indecent assaults, five counts of sexual assault and one rape and was arrested for the third time on Tuesday after two more men accused him of attacks.

It is reported that the alleged victims were all in their 20s when they claim they were assaulted by the MP and the offences are said to have taken place in London and Lancashire over a decade between 2002 and 2013.

Mr Evans strongly denies all allegations and will appear before magistrates in Preston on September 18^th.

He was previously arrested in May at his home in Lancashire by detectives investigating the claims over rape and sexual assault cases between 2009 and March this year.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said: “Following an investigation by Lancashire police, the Crown Prosecution Service has received a file of evidence in the case of Mr Nigel Evans MP which concerns allegations of a sexual nature. After careful consideration, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to prosecute Mr Evans.”

Swansea-born Mr Evans has been a MP for Ribble Valley in Lancashire since 1992. He was elected vice chairman of the Conservative Party from 1999 to 2001 and was promoted to a shadow Welsch Secretary under Ian Duncan Smith in 2001 for two years. He was elected as one of the three deputy speakers in 2010 when he openly declared that he was gay.

Aastha Gill