Patrick Spencer found not guilty of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court

Patrick Spencer was found not guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court, clearing the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP of two sexual assault counts over allegations involving two women at London’s Groucho Club. The acquittal ends the criminal case, but it does not erase the political damage already done, after the Conservative Party removed the whip and suspended him.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the charges related to two separate women and two separate incidents at the private members’ club. The alleged assaults were said to have taken place in August 2023, a year before Spencer became an MP in 2024. He was charged in May 2025 and appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 June 2025 before the case moved to trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Spencer denied both counts throughout the proceedings. BBC reporting said he described the episode as a “moment of complete stupidity” after CCTV footage was shown in court. The case centered on conduct at one of London’s better-known private clubs, a detail that sharpened attention on the standards expected of an elected lawmaker.

The verdict leaves Spencer still defined in public life by the gap between his criminal acquittal and the disciplinary action taken by his party. He had lost the Conservative whip and was suspended from the Conservatives before the jury’s decision, making his standing in Parliament a separate question from the court’s finding of not guilty.

The trial also landed in a wider atmosphere of scrutiny over how Westminster responds when serious allegations are made against sitting MPs. Spencer, reported to have been 38 during the trial, had become an MP only after the alleged incidents, but his case still drew national attention because it involved an elected member of Parliament facing criminal charges in open court.