MP ON TRIAL: Man tells of 'sheer panic' while being groped by Wakefield's Imran Ahmad Khan

A man fought back tears as he described the 'sheer panic' he felt as Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan groped him in bed, a jury was told this morning.
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Tapes from the man's interview with police were played to the jury at Southwark Crown Court this morning on day two of Khan's trial, in which he denies a charge of historic sexual assault.

It is alleged to have taken place following a party at a house in Staffordshire in January 2008.

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Khan has been accused of touching the male, who was 15 at the time, after the youngster had climbed into the top bed of a bunk and turned the lights out.

Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan.Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan.
Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan.

The alleged victim says Khan, who was sleeping in a separate bed in the same room, began touching his feet through the bars of the bunk bed, and worked his way up his leg before reaching his groin.

During the taped interview, recorded by police in December 2019, the alleged victim said had been sat on his bedroom floor with Khan after most of the house had gone to bed.

After they decided to go to sleep, they turned out the lights and just minutes later he could see Khan stood at the bunk bed before he began touching his feet through the bars.

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Struggling to fight back tears, he told officers that Khan then moved around the bed moving his hand further up his leg through his pyjama bottoms.

He said: "I could hear him breathing and I pretended to be asleep.

"I thought maybe it was just a game.

"I thought that as long he could not get to my groin it was okay, but I kept leaning and pushing until I could not get any further away.

"I realise I had nowhere else to go.

"His hand kept getting stuck through the bar and his breathing was getting heavy.

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"He managed to get in (to my sleeping bag) and I froze, and I did not know what to do."

The man said he told Khan to stop, which he did for a few seconds but he then continued touching him and heading towards his groin.

"He was a hair's breadth away and at that point I sprung out of bed and ran," the man added.

The boy then ran to his parents' bedroom to alert them.

Asked by the officer how he felt during the incident, he said: "I was scared, vulnerable, numb and shocked.

"I did not think it was real."

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Asked about how he felt when Khan's hand approached his groin, he said: "It was sheer panic. It was disbelief all the way, I thought it was not happening."

Khan, who was 34 at the time and is now 48, was asked to leave the house early the next day

The police were called and the boy gave an account, but did not want the matter taking further.

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

Khan denies that any sexual contact took place at all.

His trial is expected to last around two weeks.

Read day one of the trial here.

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Mr Khan became Wakefield MP in following the 2019 election, becoming the first Tory in nearly 90 years to take the so-called Labour safe seat.

He has since been suspended by the Conservative Party.

The trial continues.