Former Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan loses appeal against his sexual assault conviction

Khan, 49, is serving an 18-month prison sentence after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy at a party in 2008.

He was sentenced in May this year after being found guilty after a two-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Khan has continued to maintain his innocence.

He formally quit his seat in May after being found guilty and suspended by the Tories.

It triggered a by-election which was won by Labour’s Simon Lightwood in June.

The former MP brought an appeal against his conviction and sentence, which was heard at the Court of Appeal in November.

His lawyers argued that his conviction was "unsafe" because the case against him was "weak" and was bolstered by "bad character evidence" in the form of a man who alleged he had been sexually assaulted as an adult by Khan in Pakistan in 2010.

They also said his jail term was too long for the offence and should have been suspended.

Both appeals were dismissed by three senior judges.

Jurors at Khan’s trial were told how the defendant groped the boy as he lay in his bunk bed following a party at a house in Staffordshire 14 years ago.

The court heard Khan was a friend of a friend to the family hosting the gathering.

Khan, who was aged 34 at the time, was described as being “charming and chatting” with other guests.

Khan admitted he had been talking to the boy earlier in the evening about sexuality.

The victim said Khan had told him he was a good-looking and intelligent boy.

Later on he dragged the boy up the stairs, had been play fighting with him, forced him to drink gin and encouraged him to put pornographic films on his computer.

Minutes after the lights went out, the boy said he realised Khan was standing by his bunk and was feeling his leg before moving closer to his groin area.

He said that he heard Khan’s breathing become deeper as he moved around the bed to continue touching him.

It was at this point that the boy ran out of the bedroom towards his parents’ room in a distressed state.

Police were called and the youngster gave a statement but did not want to take the matter further out of embarrassment.

This was until 2019 when the complainant, now an adult, saw that Khan was standing in the election to contest the Wakefield seat.

The victim, who cannot be identified, said he waited until after the election because he did not want to influence the outcome.

Khan maintained throughout the trial that he did not sexually touch the boy.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Baker said: “I do not accept you have remorse, rather the only regret you feel is towards yourself for having found yourself in the predicament you face as a result of your actions.”