Ex-Labour peer ‘groped woman who had gone to him for help’

A FORMER Labour peer was found to have sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman who came to him for help before seducing her at his home, a parliamentary report has revealed.

Nazir Ahmed, 63, was accused of spiking the woman’s tea with a drug – an allegation he denied – before the couple had consensual sex in his bedroom.

They went on to have a two-month sexual relationship before the married peer, Baron Ahmed of Rotherham, ended the affair. The woman, in her 40s, who the Daily Mail is not naming for legal reasons, later complained to police and co-operated with an investigation by the House of Lords standards commissioner that led to Ahmed resigning his seat in disgrace last November.

A 260-page report by the Lords conduct committee had recommended his expulsion from the house and the contents can now be reported for the first time.

The report stated: ‘Her complaint against Lord Ahmed was that when she asked him for help he initially made unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature with her and later held out the promise of using his influence to help her – when in fact his aim was to have sex with her.’

The woman contacted Ahmed, pictured, to help her lodge a complaint to police about a faith healer she believed had exploited people financially and sexually. Days later, in March 2017, they agreed to have dinner at a restaurant in London to discuss a letter he had written to police. After the meal the woman declined his invitation to go back to his house, but he got into her car when she tried to drive home.

The report stated that she said he ‘sexually assaulted her by placing his hand on the top of her thigh’ as they sat in the car. This was ‘unexpected, unwelcome and unprovoked’ and he apologised when she protested. Ahmed denied touching her but the commissioner found the assault happened.

The woman said Ahmed continued to send her texts, stating that he had ‘feelings’ for her, but she blocked him. Months later, she contacted the peer to ask him to arrange a meeting with police on the same matter.

The report detailed how ultimately Ahmed lured the woman to his house in London on the pretence of discussing a police offer to meet her. Standards commissioner Lucy Scott-Moncrieff found he was being ‘dishonest’ and that he had planned a ‘sexual encounter’ with no intention of helping her deal with police. The woman later told police that, after drinking tea, he made advances to her, ‘sitting on her lap and telling her he was sexually aroused’. The report stated: ‘She pushed him off, saying “What are you doing?”’ However, they went to his bedroom and had sex. The report added: ‘She said he had not forced her to have sex with him... nor had she been expecting that they were going to have sex the first time that she went to his house, “but it happened”.’ The woman said she believed her tea had been spiked. She said she ‘felt peculiar’ that evening and behaved out of character by having sex with an older man she was not attracted to. However, the commissioner did not uphold the drugging allegation.

Police investigated her complaint about Ahmed before a decision was made to take no criminal action. The parliamentary investigation concluded that Ahmed had breached the code of conduct by ‘acting dishonestly and without integrity’.

It also found that he exploited the woman ‘emotionally and sexually even though he knew she was receiving treatment for anxiety and depression’.

Ahmed insisted he had done nothing wrong. The peer admitted they had a sexual relationship, but said she seduced him.

The report noted that he said she instigated sexual contact at his house. However, the commissioner found he was a liar and failed to ‘genuinely co-operate’ with her inquiry. Ahmed avoided being expelled by resigning from the Lords.