Charlie Elphicke: Ex-Dover MP faces court over £35k fine

A former MP who was jailed for sexually assaulting two women faces fresh court proceedings after allegedly failing to pay £35,000 in costs for his trial.

Charlie Elphicke was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2020 after being found guilty of three counts of sexual assault following a trial.

The former Tory MP served half his sentence and was released in September.

The money was to go towards prosecution costs and had to be paid within a year, the sentencing judge told Elphicke.

It would "otherwise fall on the public purse", Mrs Justice Whipple added.

She also told the former Dover MP: "You have substantial equity in your family home, which is currently up for sale."

However, Elphicke's barrister, Ian Winter QC, told the court his client had "a fair bit of debt", and that his estranged wife, Natalie Elphicke, the current MP for Dover, loaned him £100,000 to pay legal bills.

Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is pursuing the payment of the fine and has enforcement powers.

These include issuing a summons to attend a hearing to explain a lack of payment and to set out when it will be paid.

Refusal to pay could result in a criminal charge being brought.

Elphicke is expected to attend a hearing on Friday at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court. If he does not, a warrant could be issued for his arrest.

In March, he lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his jail term after his lawyers argued the sentence was too long and should have been suspended.

Mrs Justice Whipple described Elphicke as a "sexual predator" who used his "success and respectability as a cover" and told a "pack of lies".

During his trial, jurors heard how he had asked one of his victims about bondage and sex, then kissed her and groped her breast before chasing her around his home, chanting: "I'm a naughty Tory."

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