Disgraced Conservative MP for Wakefield Imran Khan jailed for sex assault
The former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan has been jailed after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
The 48-year-old, who was the first Conservative MP elected in Wakefield in 87 years when he won the seat in 2019, appeared at Southwark Crown Court for sentencing after being found guilty last month over the attack in 2008.
In a statement given in court, his victim, who was 15 at the time and is now 29, said that the incident had a profound effect on him.
He said: "Throughout my teenage years I found being touched in any way very difficult... I still find it difficult and embarrassing to talk about sex. Being touched without warning still freaks me out."
He said his mental health had "declined rapidly" and he had sought counselling since the allegations became public.
Khan , who was 34 at the time of the offence, had denied groping the boy at a party in January 2008, but was convicted after a trial. He resigned as an MP at the end of April, more than two weeks after the verdict. He later appealed his conviction.
During his trial, the court heard Khan forced the boy to drink gin at the party in Staffordshire, dragged him upstairs and asked him to watch pornography before assaulting him.
Jailing him for 18 months at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, Mr Justice Baker said Khan had shown "no remorse".
"The only regret you feel is towards yourself for having found yourself in the predicament you face as a result of your actions some 14 years ago," he said.
"Although it may well be over the years you had let yourself believe you had got away with having committed this offence, I am sure you were aware from the outset there was a risk there would be a day of reckoning."
Khan showed no emotion as he was taken down to the cells, carrying among his possessions, a bag from an upmarket men's grooming shop.
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