FORMER deputy speaker Nigel Evans pushed a young man into a room at Westminster and sexually assaulted him, a jury has heard.
The witness told Preston Crown Court that the MP "put his arms all over me and tried to kiss me". He pulled away and left the room "as quickly as possible", he said.
The witness is one of seven young men that Evans, 56, is said to have assaulted.
The Westminster worker said he did not report the alleged incident at the time because he gave "the benefit of the doubt" to the defendant, who he considered "one of the nice guys".
But he said he came forward to the police following the reporting of Evans's initial arrest last year.
The incident is said to have taken place in February 2011 when the MP invited him, a friend and others to join him for champagne in his offices. During the evening, the alleged victim said he was invited by Evans to look at a nearby newly-fitted kitchen, the court heard.
He said the Ribble Valley MP opened the door and then pushed him into the room.
The complainant said: "It was pitch black and then very quickly he kind of came forward and put his arms all over me and tried to kiss me.
"I remember him saying something like 'you're gorgeous'." He said he "gathered his senses" and pushed him off and left the room.
He told a number of people about the alleged incident but did not make an official complaint.
The court heard Evans sent the complainant a Facebook message several days after the kitchen incident. The MP wrote: "Hi (the alleged victim), my mobile number is ...., great to see you the other day." The young man responded: "Hi. Thanks for allowing us to gatecrash your drinks. We (he and his friend) both had fun." Evans then replied: "Yep, great fun!"
Referring to the message, the complainant told the court: "I kind of took it as him thinking 'do I need to worry about this incident being reported?'"
Evans denies one rape, two indecent assaults and six sexual assaults. The trial continues.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article