Nigel Evans: Assault claims are a conspiracy

The jury in the trial of MP Nigel Evans were told "regret" over having sex could not form the basis of conviction.

In his closing statement, Peter Wright QC went through each of the charges against Mr Evans, pointing out what he claimed were consistencies in the accounts. He said the man who claims the former speaker raped him regretted having sex with him, but this did not make Evans guilty of rape.

Read: Nigel Evans tells court sex was consensual

Mr Wright said:

"In the cold light of day, the complainant may regret what had taken place and how far it had actually gone. But such sentiments are some considerable distance removed from an incident of sexual assault and rape.

"He gave every indication of consent. Now he seeks to turn the clock back.

"Saving his conscience is not the basis on which to convict a man of rape and sexual assault."

Nigel Evans has told a court he felt like a 'chastened child' when a pass he made on a man who was staying at his Lancashire home was not reciprocated.

Mr Evans described the relationship he had with the man as friendly and flirtatious. He said he was shocked when he found out the man had made a formal complaint again him.

"I got the impression he was interested in me," Evans told the court. "There's no fool like an old fool."

Nigel Evans denies two counts of indecent assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, five counts of sexual assault and one count of rape.

MP Nigel Evans has denied raping a man in his home, but told a court that he did have consensual sex with him.

Mr Evans denies one allegation of rape as well as two indecent assaults, five sexual assaults and one attempted sexual assault.

In his first day in the witness box, the MP said that he did have sexual intercourse with the rape complainant in the bedroom of his home in Pendleton, but claimed it was "absolutely with consent".

Asked by his barrister if there ever any indication that he was not consenting, Mr Evans replied: "Absolutely not."

The MP also denied to the jury that he committed two further sexual assaults against the rape complainant on the same night.

Read: Nigel Evans: Assault claims are a conspiracy

MP Nigel Evans has denied sexually assaulting a young man on the sofa at his house in July 2009.

Speaking in the witness stand at his trial over alleged sex offences, Evans accepted that he made an "approach" and that he touched the complainant.

Asked if the touching was sexual, he said: "I did get under the duvet or blanket and I did put my arm around him.

"We laid together for a while with my arm around him and his hand holding mine. When my hand started to move down, he slowly brushed it away."

The MP said he held the young man before moving his hand down again, at which point the alleged victim "exploded and said 'No'".

Mr Evans said his hand got no further down than the top of the young man's belt - though this was refuted by the complainant.

Deputy speaker Nigel Evans told police a former Westminster worker who accused him of a sexual assault was "Machiavellian" and at the "centre of the web" of a plot against him.

The MP suggested his alleged victim had "choreographed events" as he was the common link between four other complainants in the case.

Mr Evans, the MP for Ribble Valley in Lancashire, denies any wrongdoing and claims a "conspiracy" is at work involving an "old pals act".

He is accused of sexually assaulting seven men and today his trial at Preston Crown Court heard his replies to questions by detectives after he was arrested in May last year.

Mr Evans, 56, told officers the allegation of rape by one man had been made because of the "incredibly close" relationship between him and the bi-sexual co-accuser whom he described as "Machiavellian and manipulative".

The rape complainant, then aged 22, alleges Mr Evans assaulted him after a dinner party. However, the MP described the complainant as a "strapping lad" who was a "willing participant" as the sex was consensual.

The trial of former Commons deputy speaker Nigel Evans heard today that the MP was "staggered" at being arrested and accused of rape.

Evans admitted having sex with a man 33 years his junior but told police, "Was it non-consensual, the answer is no."

ITV News Correspondent Damon Green reports:

Today the jury heard Evans' answers to questions from detectives at Preston Police Station following his arrest on May 4 last year, five weeks after the alleged sexual assault.

Evans denies all the charges against him.

Former deputy speaker Nigel Evans told detectives he was "staggered" at being arrested and sat in a police interview room accused of rape, Preston Crown Court heard today.

Following his arrest on May 4 last year, five weeks after the alleged sexual assault, Evans admitted having sex with the man accusing him of rape, telling officers: "Did I have sexual contact with him, the answer is yes. Was it non-consensual, the answer is no."

The 56-year-old told police: "We are not talking about a wilting flower here."

The MP for Ribble Valley is said to have raped the man, then aged 22, following a dinner party at his home in Pendleton, Lancashire in March 2013.

"At what stage he thought what was going to happen was not consensual, I'm a bit mystified," Evans told officers. "Had he not wished to have any sexual contact with me he could have said so which he never did."

"He said, 'Should I follow you in?' And he did. He took his own clothes off. I did not lead him in or push him in or any of that," Evans continued.

"As far as I was concerned everything that occurred was consensual," Evans added. "I'm somewhat staggered by the allegations he is now making."

ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn, who is at Preston Crown Court for the trial of MP Nigel Evans, tweeted:

Patrick McLoughlin, who was Conservative Party chief whip at the time a young man made allegations about Nigel Evans, and said it was a "really big ask" for the MP to stand down over an alleged "inappropriate sexual approach", a court heard.

However Mr McLoughlin, who is now the Transport Secretary, said he understood the matter to be a "misunderstanding" not sexual assault when told about the incident in July 2009.

A young Westminster worker alleges he went to sleep on the settee at Evans' home and awoke to find the MP groping him, Preston Crown Court heard.

Evans denies the charges against him.

Read: Nigel Evans allegation 'out of character', court told

ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn, who is at Preston Crown Court for the trial of MP Nigel Evans, tweeted: