Charlie Elphicke (former Conservative MP) was disgraced and sentenced to prison for sexual assault. He now plans to apply for Universal Credit.
At Friday’s court appearance, Dover’s former MP discussed his financial troubles.
The sentencing judge labelled Mr Elphicke as a’sexual predator’. He was sentenced to half his two year term for the three sexual assaults he committed on two women younger than him.
The 50-year-old’s Friday appearance Uxbridge Magistrates’ Crown Court was over his non-payment of a £35,000 sum, that he has now been ordered to pay within a year towards the cost of the prosecution.
The former Government whip, who is on licence until next year, he offered to repay his debt at £1 per month, which the court rejected.
Charlie Elphicke (pictured) who was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault in September 2020, appeared in Uxbridge Magistrates’ Crown Court on Friday over the non-payment of £35,000. According to him, he’s submitting a Universal Credit claim.
He said that he was in an embarrassing and difficult situation.
The court heard Elphicke received £51,000 from the sale of his marital home, but most of the money has been used ‘in legal fees and to pay rent’.
He said he had paid six months’ rent up front for a one-bedroom flat, valued online at nearly £475,000, in Fulham, south-west London, adding: ‘That is why I have very limited cash to meet my living expenses.’
Elphicke explained that she had submitted a Universal Credit claim, and the process is still underway. Elphicke stated that they would be back to her on December 12th to verify my ability to continue paying the rent.
He told the court he had worked with the Step Change debt charity to assess his financial situation but the £1-a-month repayment proposal was not accepted by the court.
Elphicke said, “I don’t have a job or a career. I’m long-term unemployment.” I am currently working with my probation officer and the job center to discover a new career.
“I’ve filed a claim for Universal Credit. My wife has filed for divorce and I have been separated. It was necessary to search for a new home.
Mrs Justice Whipple was the sentencing judge. She stated that the amount would “otherwise be on the public purse”. He was told by Mrs Justice Whipple that there is substantial equity in the family home.
Elphicke’s barrister Ian Winter QC had told the court his client had ‘a fair bit of debt’, and that his estranged wife, Natalie Elphicke, now the MP for Dover, loaned him £100,000 to pay for legal bills.
For the non-payment, the ex-Government whip was summoned by Uxbridge Magistrates’ Crown Court. There, he offered to repay his debt at £1 per month, which the court rejected
The Magistrates agreed that the case be adjourned to December 17 while Elphicke waited for his benefit claim to be evaluated. A payment order is expected at the next hearing.
Andrew Gell was the chair of the bench. He stated that “it doesn’t seem clear as to what will be possible over 12 months, so I think it’s best we wait till Universal Credit has been finished and adjourn the case until then.
Elphicke won a Court of Appeal case against his sentence in prison. His lawyers claimed that the term was too lengthy and should have been suspended.
Elphicke was described by the sentencing judge as a “sexual predator” who used his success and respectability to cover up for his crimes and told a “pack of lies”.
Jurors were able to hear how he asked his victim about bondage, and then touched her breast, before following her around the house, singing: “I’m an naughty Tory.”
Following the case, five Conservatives were found guilty by the Commons Standards Committee, along with his wife Natalie, of violating the code of conduct for an ‘egregious attempt’ to influence his legal proceedings.
Elphicke’s barrister Ian Winter QC had told the court his client had ‘a fair bit of debt’, and that his estranged wife, Natalie Elphicke (pictured in the house of commons in July), now the MP for Dover, loaned him £100,000 to pay for legal bills
Mrs Elphicke and Sir Roger Gale were therefore expelled from the House of Commons.
Along with Bob Stewart, Adam Holloway and others, they wrote to high-ranking judges raising concerns about the possibility that an inferior judge might publish character references for Mr Elphicke.
Elphicke was a Government whip under David Cameron’s Premiership 2015, but he returned to the backbenches after Theresa May took office in 2015.
When the first allegations of sexual assault were made, he had his party whip temporarily suspended. However, it was controversially restored a year later to secure a vital confidence vote for Mrs May.
In the summer following, Elphicke was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service.