Evans: CPS 'regret' over Jimmy Savile influenced decision to arrest

Former Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans said he has no doubt that the aftermath of the Jimmy Savile revelations influenced the Crown Prosecution Service's decision to charge him with a string of sex offences, the MP told Daybreak.

The Conservative MP for Ribble Valley was adamant that the fierce criticism the CPS faced after the Savile scandal had exacerbated the allegations against him.

Mr Evans said he had been through "11 months of hell" after he was charged with one count of rape, five sexual assaults, one attempted sexual assault and two indecent assaults in September 2013.

The 56-year-old, who is openly gay, said the accusations were "traumatic beyond belief" and credited the friends he had who "came running towards me" when the worst happened, that he survived the ordeal.

Mr Evans has publicly said he does not intend to return to the £30,000 Deputy Speaker role and will instead continue his work as a constituency MP.

However, his defence cost him his life savings and he has asked the CPS to pay his £130,000 legal fees.

He has also approached the chair of the Home Affairs select committee, Labour's Keith Vaz, to see whether there should be "some form of anonymity" for those accused of sex offences.