Ex-Tory MP’s appeal against sex assault conviction rejected

A former Tory MP jailed for groping a 15-year-old boy has lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his conviction and sentence.

Imran Ahmad Khan, 49, was jailed for 18 months at Southwark Crown Court in May, after being found guilty of sexually assaulting the teenager after a party in 2008.

Two days after winning his seat in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in the December 2019 general election, Khan contacted one of the victim’s relatives expressing concerns about the 2008 incident, and the victim later went to police.

Khan was expelled from the Conservative Party and resigned, triggering a by-election in the constituency, following his conviction.

The former MP brought an appeal against his conviction and sentence, which was heard at the Court of Appeal in November.

His lawyers argued that his conviction was “unsafe” because the case against him was “weak” and bolstered by “bad character evidence” in the form of a man who alleged he had been sexually assaulted as an adult by Khan in Pakistan in 2010.

They also argued his jail term was too long for

the offence and should have been suspended.

But both appeals were dismissed by three senior judges in a ruling yesterday.

Dismissing the conviction appeal, Mr Justice Sweeney, sitting with Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Linden, said: “The (trial) judge was plainly entitled to conclude that the prosecution case in relation to (the victim’s) complaint was not weak. Indeed, in our view, the case was far from weak.

“Against that overall background, we have no doubt that the appellant’s trial was fair and that his conviction was safe.”

Mr Justice Sweeney said the judge also gave due consideration to suspending the sentence... but concluded custody was necessary in all the circumstances.

Imran Ahmad Khan.