British MP from Boris Johnson’s party guilty of sexually assaulting boy
- Imran Ahmad Khan tried to make the teen drink alcohol, then touched the victim as he lay in bed in his pyjamas, the court heard
- The Conservative Party is now likely to face a special election in the key constituency of Wakefield, once a traditional Labour seat
A British lawmaker from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party was found guilty on Monday of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy after trying to force him to drink alcohol before assaulting him.
Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, who represents the Wakefield area in northern England, had denied the allegation but was convicted of assaulting the boy at a house in 2008.
The victim decided not to proceed with a complaint at the time, but when Ahmad Khan was elected to parliament in 2019, he pursued the case.
“In subsequent interviews with the police he was able to tell investigators more about what had taken place and I am pleased that the jury have accepted the victim’s compelling evidence about the offence committed by Khan,” said Rosemary Ainslie from Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service.
Prosecution lawyer Sean Larkin told jurors that Khan touched the boy while he lay in his pyjamas in bed. Khan “stood by the bunk bed” and touched the boy’s “legs and reached for his groin”.
The lawmaker has been suspended by the Conservatives pending the outcome of the trial.
Beyond the immediate damage of having a party member found guilty of a serious crime, the party is likely to face the further headache of a special election in a key constituency.
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Wakefield was one of the many traditional Labour seats that switched allegiance to the Tories in 2019, giving the party a huge majority in Parliament.
The Labour Party will now be hopeful of winning the seat back as part of its broader project to rebuild in its former heartlands in northern England.
Khan’s legal team and the Conservative Party did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
