Former MP Charlie Elphicke says he can't pay £35,000 prosecution costs

‘Naughty Tory’ sex attack MP Charlie Elphicke says he still cannot pay £35,000 prosecution costs – but says he wants to become a writer

• Former MP Charlie Elphicke claims he can’t afford £35,000 prosecution costs
• He was handed a two-year sentence in September 2020 after being convicted of three counts of sexual assault
• Elphicke said he doesn’t ‘have enough money or prospect to be able to receive any money’
• Has been ordered to pay back the £35,000 by or before September 15, 2022 

The former MP who was jailed after he was found to have committed three sexual assaults, including chasing a woman shouting ‘I am a naughty Tory’, was today given another year to pay his legal debts.

Charlie Elphicke was handed a two-year jail sentence in September last year after he was convicted of three counts of sexual assault following a lengthy trial.

Having served one year in jail, the former Government whip still owes £35,000 worth of prosecution costs that he was ordered to pay after his initial trial.

During that trial, the jury heard that the former MP had asked one of his victims about bondage and sex, before kissing her and groping her breast. He then chased her around his home chanting: ‘I am a naughty Tory.’

Charlie Elphicke (pictured), the former MP who was jailed after he was found to have committed three sexual assaults, including chasing a woman shouting ‘I am a naughty Tory’, was today given another year to pay his legal debts

Today, a hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court was told that Elphicke had been unable to get a job or return to his former work as a law, due to his convictions.

He told the court: ‘I hope by the end of my sentence to be back on my feet, it is difficult for me currently due to the conviction. I am working well with the Fulham job centre and probation officer and I hope to be able to earn money in due course but today, I do not have the means to be able to do so.

‘I would intend to be a writer.’

Magistrates Davinderpal Kooner and Martha Desmond heard that the former MP had received £1,284 worth of universal credit benefit so far after he began working with the probation service on his release from prison in September this year.

Elphicke will remain on licence under the supervision of the probation service until September 15, 2022.

Today, a hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court (pictured) was told that Elphicke had been unable to get a job or return to his former work as a law, due to his convictions

When he was asked whether he might be able to borrow the money to pay off his debts, Elphicke told the magistrates: ‘I do not have enough money or prospect to be able to receive any money at this time.’

During a previous hearing, Elphicke told the court Step Change, a debt advice charity, had told him to offer to pay back the debt at the rate of £1 per month, an offer that the courts rejected. He also told the court that he had received £51,000 from the sale of his marital home, which he had used for legal fees and rent.

Today, when he was asked how much the home had sold for as a whole, Elphicke told the magistrates: ‘I don’t know how much the home sold for, I was in prison.’

The former MP, who was first elected in 2010, admitted he paid six months rent upfront for a flat in Fulham, south-west London, that was valued online at nearly £475,000.

Elphicke needed to find a new home after he separated from his wife Natalie, who took up his seat as the MP for Dover, after supporting him through his trial.

Having served one year in jail, the former Government whip (pictured in 2020) still owes £35,000 worth of prosecution costs that he was ordered to pay after his initial trial

Elphicke also told the court that as the initial fine had not been due until September this year, he had been forced to pay thousands of pounds in legal fees for his appeal, which failed.

He claimed ‘it was a kind of catch-22’ and asked the court to give him until the end of his sentence, September 15 next year, so he could ‘get back on his feet again’ and find the £35,000.

After retiring to make their decision Mr Kooner told Elphicke: ‘We have listened to everything you have said to us and it is never the court’s desire to set people up to fail.

‘We are going to accept your offer that you will clear the £35,000 on or before September 15 next year. If you become employed or come by means and become more financially stable it is in your in your interests to start clearing the amount as soon as possible.’

Elphicke will appear before the court on March 25 next year to review his progress. 

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