BBC: “Mike Hancock MP will not face charges over sex assault”

By The Voice | Sat 23rd November 2013 - 12:01 am

Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock will face no further police action in relation to alleged sexual assault claims.

A Hampshire Police statement said it had discussed the case with the Crown Prosecution Service and would not be taking any further action.

Mr Hancock, who is also a councillor, had strongly denied the allegations.

An independent report released in September found he failed to observe the council’s code of conduct.

Hampshire Police said it had informed those affected by the decision.

Mr Hancock said: “I’m personally delighted and pleased they have come to that conclusion.”

The Liberal Democrat MP was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of sexual assault, but was not charged with any offence.

Mr Hancock, who temporarily stood down from the parliamentary Lib Dem party in June, is currently involved in a High Court civil dispute over sexual assault allegations made by a female constituent.

Last week, Portsmouth City Council’s standards committee decided to not to proceed with any investigation into Mr Hancock until the court proceedings have concluded.

The independent report by Nigel Pascoe QC, produced as part of the council’s code of conduct investigation regarding Mr Hancock, was given to the police at their request.

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3 Comments

BrianD 24th Nov '13 - 7:19pm

Mike Hancock first won his seat for the SDP. One of the first 6 MPs. He won it because he works extremely hard and has continued to work extremely hard for Portsmouth and the people over more than a generation. This is why BBC TV reporters have found it so hard to find people in the street to speak ill of him. Unlike the Leader he had to earn his parliamentary seat over many years of caring hard graft. This is the second time the Police have investigated allegations against him and found no justification to proceed. A civil claim against him over the same issue has been made to the High Court. For this reason he has been forced to leave the Parliamentary party. How can the Leader claim to promote Liberal values when presuming guilt, a guilt rejected by a police I two police investigations, before the case is heard??
Peter Tyzack 25th Nov '13 - 9:52am

.. not sure how an MP can be a councillor as well.. being a councillor, and doing the job properly can be almost a full-time job, being an MP is too.. he should move over and let someone else have one of the jobs.
Matthew Huntbach 28th Nov '13 - 10:34am

Peter Tyzack

.. not sure how an MP can be a councillor as well.. being a councillor, and doing the job properly can be almost a full-time job, being an MP is too.

What about being an MP and also being Prime Minister, or Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Secretary of State for Business and Waffle, etc? OK, being an MP and Deputy Prime Minister is probably fine as the latter’s a bit of a non-job, but does adding the job of Leader of the Liberal Democrats onto that makes it too much?