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A Conservative MP has been cleared of sexually assaulting two women at the Groucho Club in London after claiming that he just wanted to give them a hug.
Patrick Spencer was seen on camera coming up behind two women and putting his arms around them at the private members’ club during a night out in August ۲۰۲۳, less than a year before he was elected to the seat of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.
Spencer, ۳۸, was accused of “cupping” the breasts of both women, who he did not know, before “fist pumping” towards his friends nearby.
During his police interview, Spencer apologised for grabbing hold of the two women – from behind – and conceded it was “not acceptable in this day and age”. At his trial at Southwark crown court, Spencer insisted that he had not touched the breasts of one of the women, while contact with the other woman had been unintentional.
He said the gesture he made after the second woman had pushed him away was due to him being “mortified” that she had rejected his hug, rather than celebrating groping her.
On Friday, after just over seven hours of deliberation, the jury found Spencer not guilty of two counts of sexual assault. The MP covered his face with shaking hands as the verdicts were delivered, and broke down in tears before embracing his wife Anna in court.
After the verdict, Spencer said: “Our shared nightmare is now over. I have always maintained my innocence, and today’s not guilty verdict draws a very long and challenging period in my life to a close.”
Spencer is the son of Michael Spencer, a billionaire donor to the Conservative party. He told the court he had drunk red wine with his father at lunch, beers at Twickenham while watching an England rugby match, and drank wine and negroni cocktails at the members’ club.
In his evidence, he said he could not recall the incidents at the centre of the trial, and insisted that he would not have pestered the two women to have a drink with him and asked personal questions of one about her marriage.
The women told jurors they were left “shocked” after being grabbed by Spencer, and one said she “froze” when she says her breasts were touched.
In his police interview, Spencer called it a “moment of complete stupidity” but denied trying to “cop a feel”, the court heard. He called himself “over-friendly” and conceded to police: “Yeah, it looks terrible.” But in court, Spencer said he would never touch a woman’s breasts without consent and disputed whether the CCTV showed two sexual assaults.
Spencer was identified by Groucho Club staff after the sexual assault allegations were first made, but a Metropolitan police officer failed to pursue the investigation and did not even take statements from the women.
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After a complaint that the investigation had stalled, the Met conducted a review in early ۲۰۲۵ and brought in a new detective, gathering statements and questioning the MP.
Commander Andy Day of the Met said: “We acknowledge that this investigation initially fell below the high standards we would expect, and we have apologised to the two women who made reports.
“Our priority remains tackling violence against women and girls, so women in London can have full confidence in the Met to investigate reports thoroughly and quickly.”
The officer who failed to take witness statements was investigated by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, but no disciplinary proceedings were brought.
Following the verdict, the Conservative party restored the whip to Spencer.
