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| Charlie Elphicke trial: Ex-MP guilty of sexual assaults | Charlie Elphicke trial: Ex-MP guilty of sexual assaults |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| A former Conservative MP has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women. | A former Conservative MP has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women. |
| Charlie Elphicke, the former MP for Dover, denied groping the women in similar situations nine years apart. | Charlie Elphicke, the former MP for Dover, denied groping the women in similar situations nine years apart. |
| He was convicted of one count of sexual assault in 2007, and two further counts against a second woman in 2016. | He was convicted of one count of sexual assault in 2007, and two further counts against a second woman in 2016. |
| The 49-year-old's wife Natalie Elphicke, who is the current MP for Dover, was present for his trial at Southwark Crown Court. | The 49-year-old's wife Natalie Elphicke, who is the current MP for Dover, was present for his trial at Southwark Crown Court. |
| Releasing Elphicke on bail ahead on sentencing on 15 September, Judge Mrs Justice Whipple said: "There is a very real possibility he faces immediate custody." | |
| Elphicke's trial heard he had lunged at a woman aged in her 30s at his London home in 2007 on the first night his wife was away after the birth of their son. | |
| He forced his victim on to a sofa and groped her breast while trying to kiss her, before chasing her and chanting "I'm a naughty Tory". | |
| "He tried to kiss me and I moved my head, he pushed me down by my shoulders," the woman told jurors. | |
| "He had his knee between my legs and he was groping my breast." | |
| Elphicke told the court he tried to kiss the woman "under a misapprehension" after she became "tactile", but denied sexual assault. | |
| In 2016 he twice sexually assaulted a parliamentary worker aged in her 20s, first attempting to kiss the woman and grope her breast. | |
| "He had his mouth open, continually trying to kiss me," his victim told the court. "It was like a disgusting, slobbery mess." | |
| In the second assault several weeks later, he ran his hand up the inside of her thigh towards her groin. | |
| Elphicke had told the jury he was "besotted" with the younger woman and desired a sexual relationship with her. |