Boy felt 'scared and vulnerable' after sex attack by Wakefield MP Imran Khan, court told

A court has heard how a 15-year-old boy was left feeling "scared, vulnerable, numb, shocked and surprised" after he was groped by the Tory MP for Wakefield.

Imran Ahmad Khan, aged 48, is accused of sexually assaulting the teenager at a house in Staffordshire following a meal and a party in January 2008.

The assault is said to have happened whilst the teenager was lying in a bunk bed.

The alleged victim, now 29, did not want to pursue the allegation at the time but went back to police days after Khan was elected in December 2019, Southwark Crown Court heard.

In a video interview with police, played to jurors on Wednesday, he said: "I don't think it's right that a person is in a public office who has done this."

The court heard the complainant was a Labour supporter, but he denied the allegation was politically motivated, adding: "I want this person to be convicted of the wrong that he has done, so that it can't happen to anyone else."

He told how Khan, then 34, watched him doing pull-ups, then struck minutes after he went to bed, reaching through the wooden bars of the top bunk to touch his feet.

The complainant said the "slow caressing" continued as Khan "worked his way around the bed" and "up my leg" despite him telling the MP to stop.

"His breathing was getting quite heavy and I kept pushing his hand away and pushing it back and it would keep coming," he said.

He described Khan as "quite a small fellow", who was "quite stout" with "quite bulgy eyes" and "pouty with his lips", who spoke with a deep, "posh" voice.

He added: "I was scared, vulnerable, numb, shocked, surprised."

The complainant said that he felt "sheer panic" during the ordeal before he "freaked out and jumped out of the bed and ran as fast as I could."

The court has heard that he was "distraught" when he reached his parents.

Police were called to the house and the boy reported the incident, telling officers Khan had asked him to "show me some porn", "started trying to play-fight" and told him he was a "good-looking boy", the jury was told.

The 15-year-old did not want to take it any further and the allegation was not pursued at the time, but the complainant went back to police after finding out Khan was standing as an MP.

Khan, from Wakefield, helped Prime Minister Boris Johnson win a large Commons majority in 2019 by taking the constituency in the so-called "red wall" that had formed Labour's heartlands in the Midlands and northern England.

The Conservative denied any sexual assault after being sent a list of questions by police, claiming the boy had asked him about "sexuality" before he "became distressed and left", the court has heard.

The MP, who sat behind his barrister Gudrun Young QC in court, denies a single count of sexual assault and is on unconditional bail.

The trial continues.