Charlie Elphicke trial: MP tried to keep affair secret

Charlie Elphicke is charged with three counts of sexual assault

A former Conservative MP broke down in court as he described cheating on his wife but denied sexually assaulting two women.

Charlie Elphicke said he tried to keep his affair with another woman secret from his wife because he did not think his marriage would survive.

The woman is not one of the complainants in the trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Mr Elphicke, 49, denies three counts of sexual assault.

He told jurors he had a sexual relationship with another woman, from 2015, but had not told his wife, Natalie Elphicke, his successor as Dover MP.

He said: "I didn't know how to explain it to Natalie - it was an emotional attachment (to the other woman).

"I think she would be very hurt and I didn't want that."

Mr Elphicke also admitted not telling the truth to police when they asked him about a parliamentary worker in her 20s he is accused of sexually assaulting in 2016.

He said: "I didn't want to put my marriage in jeopardy, and it would - it would cause chaos."

He later added: "I should not have lied to the police, I should have just fronted it up."

The father-of-two is accused of groping a woman in her 30s before chasing her around his central London home chanting "I'm a naughty Tory" in 2007.

Mr Elphicke told police he kissed the woman but stopped as soon as she said it was not what she wanted.

He said the woman later accepted his apology and that he had been "under a misapprehension".

The second complainant said Mr Elphicke groped her breast in April 2016, and ran his hand up her leg in a second incident the following month.

The trial continues.