Dover MP Natalie Elphicke to support 'sexual predator' Charlie Elphicke's appeal
08:44, 17 September 2020
updated: 15:25, 23 October 2020
The wife of shamed "naughty Tory" Charlie Elphicke has said she'll support her husband's appeal against his sex crime charges and hasn't ruled out rekindling their relationship.
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke claims her estranged husband was subject to an unfair trial, after which he was jailed for two years .
In a column published in The Sun, the mother-of-two says the allegations were "nonsense".
Describing him as "charming, wealthy, charismatic and successful", she said he was attractive to other women but also an "easy target for dirty politics and false allegations".
She writes: "Following an unfair trial during the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe that Charlie was convicted in a terrible miscarriage of justice.
"It was obvious to me from reading the evidence during lockdown that the criminal allegations against him were complete nonsense, and I still believe they are.
"He is appealing his sentence and the verdict. I fully support him in that."
She tells the paper she stormed out of court and publicly announced an end to their relationship, later saying in an interview that he could "get his things and go".
"It didn't quite work out like that... Because Charlie turned up on the doorstep begging to be let in," she added.
Bail conditions meant he had to stay at the family home until sentencing but Ms Elphicke says she "exiled him to the spare room".
Ms Elphicke also claims he has received a wide amount of support throughout the trial and after being found guilty - after the verdict she took to Twitter to announce the pair were separating after 25 years of marriage.
The disgraced former Conservative minister was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison for sexual assaults on two women.
The judge branded him a "sexual predator" and said he'd told a "pack of lies".
But Ms Elphicke describes the sentencing as "the latest injustice" for her husband and say she has not decided on their future together.
The jury took a day-and-a-half to decide he was guilty of the attacks, which took place in 2007 and 2017. During one, which saw him jailed for 14 months, he chased his victim round his London flat chanting "I'm a naughty Tory" before slapping her bottom.
Read more: The rise and fall of Charlie Elphicke
Mr Elphicke - who had been Dover MP since 2010 - stood down from the role ahead of the 2019 general election.
His wife stood in the constituency, triumphing in December to replace him.
