Fallon aide ‘groped me at party as he hugged me’
A FORMER special adviser to Sir Michael Fallon groped a woman at a Christmas party while giving her “a great big hug”, a court has heard.
Richard Holden, 33, was working for the former defence secretary when he allegedly attacked the 24-year-old woman in December 2016.
While hugging her goodbye, Mr Holden is accused of putting his hand inside her coat and up her skirt before touching her intimately.
Sarah Whitehouse QC, told Southwark Crown Court the alleged victim had been leaving the party at around 11pm when she was approached by Mr Holden. She said: “He came to say goodbye to her and when he did that he gave her a great big hug and took the opportunity in doing so to put his hands inside her coat and over the back of her skirt and then up her skirt touching her vaginal area over her underwear. At the time he was working as a special advisor to Michael Fallon, the member of Parliament for Sevenoaks but also at the time the secretary of state for defence.”
The court heard that throughout the evening Holden had approached the alleged victim and been “complimentary” about her appearance, telling her she was “beautiful”.
Following the incident the alleged victim contacted a friend over the messaging app, Whatsapp writing: “I think I just got groped.”
The woman did not make a complaint until Feb 2 when she made the allegation of sexual assault to Carrie Symonds, a special advisor to Sajid Javid, then the cabinet minister for communities, and to Anne Milton, the Government’s deputy chief whip.
The alleged victim told jurors: “He came closer to give me a hug... I was putting on my coat and he was going for a hug but an inside the coat hug. He was putting his arms around me but within my coat, not outside like a normal hug but inside.”
She went on: “I was probably standing still and he’s a lot bigger and taller then I am anyway and I could feel more force. I fell back a bit. As I was falling we were kind of moving back towards the wall and his hands were going lower and one went down behind my skirt and between my thighs and between my tights and underwear.”
Breaking into tears, the woman said she felt his fingers touch her for “two or three seconds” but said it “felt like longer”. She told jurors she had not had anything to drink at the party but believed he was “under the influence”.
The alleged victim told the jury: “I think he was quite drunk early on in the evening. He made me feel quite uncomfortable, he kept saying ‘you’re so beautiful’ and ‘look at that smile’.”
She said she did not initially report
‘His hands were going lower and one went down behind my skirt and between my tights and underwear’
the assault, saying: “I didn’t realise it was a crime. I thought I had just been groped and this was just a thing that happened at a party.”
But Eleanor Laws, Mr Holden’s barrister, said the pair had exchanged “flirty” messages before the incident including one in which they had joked about a female politician’s legs.
One text from Holden to the complainant which was read to the court said: “My parting shot was it has to be a dress. Your legs are much better than Ruth Davidson’s but not as good as the PM’S... I have now retreated to the smoking area to avoid having my head embedded with a stiletto.”
The alleged victim said: “It’s just a bit of banter.”
Mr Holden denies one count of sexual assault and the trial continues.