Alleged victim denies MP sex was consensual

An alleged rape victim has denied he suggested going to bed with former Commons deputy speaker Nigel Evans and that they had consensual sex at the MP’s home.
Allegations: MP Nigel Evans, above, denies a string of allegationsAllegations: MP Nigel Evans, above, denies a string of allegations
Allegations: MP Nigel Evans, above, denies a string of allegations

The man, aged in his early 20s, claims he woke up to find the 56-year-old Ribble Valley MP on top of him, and he was then raped as he laid “in shock”.

The incident is said to have taken place after the complainant attended a dinner party last year at Evans’s home in Pendleton, near Clitheroe, where he had agreed to stay overnight in a spare room.

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Preston Crown Court heard the man say he had not invited or wanted any sexual contact but he said he got under the covers with Evans after he was “escorted” to his bedroom.

Peter Wright QC, defending, suggested to the complainant that he willingly went to Evans’s bedroom following a period of “intimacy” downstairs where they had been kissing.

The complainant replied: “That is pure fiction.”

On Wednesday the complainant, who is giving evidence from behind a screen, admitted it was “a bad decision” to get into bed with Evans and it was “stupid” in hindsight.

Mr Wright asked him what he now thought about the incident.

The complainant replied: “I rationalised it that I have known this man for 18 months, we have only had one slight incident that was inappropriate. We were also friends and I had shared beds with friends and it never meant anything sexual.”

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The barrister said: “But those friends were not a middle-aged man who was openly gay?”

“No,” replied the complainant The witness recalled being “between tipsy and drunk” when he and Evans were later alone following the dinner party in Pendleton.

The complainant is one of seven young men that Evans is alleged to have sexually assaulted on various dates between 2002 and last year.

Evans denies one rape, two indecent assaults and six sexual assaults.

(Proceeding)

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