Ex-Dover MP Charlie Elphicke released from prison after serving half of sexual assault sentence

The former Conservative MP for Dover Charlie Elphicke has been released from jail after serving half of his two-year sentence for sexual assault against two women.

He was convicted of one assault at his home in London in 2007, and two further assaults on a different woman nine years later in 2016.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed Elphicke's release.

Following the jury's verdict at Southwark Crown Court in 2020, the current MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke, announced the couple's separation after 25 years of marriage.

In March this year, Mr Elphicke lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his two-year jail term.

He became a government whip under David Cameron's premiership in 2015, but returned to the back benches when Theresa May came to power the following year.

Elphicke had the party whip suspended in 2017 when allegations of sexual assault first emerged, but it was controversially reinstated a year later for a crucial confidence vote in then-prime minister Mrs May.

The whip was withdrawn again the following summer when the Crown Prosecution Service announced its decision to charge Elphicke.