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Shamed 'Naughty Tory' former Dover MP Charlie Elphicke's appeal against his sexual assault convictions has been rejected.
The former Conservative minister was handed a two year prison sentence for sexual assaults on two women, on September 15.
One charge related to an incident in 2007 where Elphicke chased a victim around his Westminster home while chanting "I'm a naughty Tory" in a singsong voice.
The woman, who was in her 30s at the time and known to Elphicke, contacted police about the incident in November 2017.
The second complainant, aged in her 20s, was groped on her breast by the former MP, who also ran his hand up her leg. The assaults happened during separate incidents in 2016.
The judge branded Elphicke, 49, a "sexual predator" who "used his success and respectability as a cover", before being handing him his sentence.
Moments later he announced he would appeal the conviction and sentencing, adding he was “innocent of any criminal wrongdoing”.
And today he lost that appeal.
Lady Justice Sue Carr said: “We take the view that the grounds advanced in this application failed to reflect the undoubted seriousness of the offending, they invite us impermissibly to interfere with the judges findings following trial.
“They do not give rise to any arguable basis for impugning the overall sentence of two years’ immediate imprisonment imposed.
She added: “The substantive question was whether the judge was justified in concluding the applicant was someone who without compunction as prepared to exploit women for sexual purposes.
“The judge was fully entitled to reach the view that the applicant was such a person. He preyed on those in a weaker position than himself using his success and respectability and cover.
"He preyed on those in a weaker position than himself using his success and respectability and cover..."
“He used his power to create conditions in which he believed he could act on his sexual desires without fear of consequence.
The High Court heard how he had spent a total of eight weeks in quarantine while being moved between four different prisons.
He then contracted Covid himself and was forced to isolate for a further two weeks.
Elphicke today attempted to appeal against the sentence at the High Court, but was shut down by a panel of judges.
Representing Elphicke, Rachna Gokani pleaded with judges to suspend his sentence.
She argued that, while the previous judge had sentenced him on the basis that his offences were a breach of trust, the offences did not constitute such a breach even though there was a “power imbalance” in the relationships.
She also claimed the sentence was having a disproportionate impact on his family life, conditions were worse in the prison that previously thought, and the previous judge did not take enough account of his mitigation.
She added that his touching of the first victim’s naked breast was in doubt and may not have pushed the crime into a more severe sentencing category.
Ms Gokani also told the court that Elphike was “sexually clumsy” and not a “sexual predator” as he had been described by the sentencing judge.
His wife Natalie Elphicke, who is the MP for Dover and Deal, previously said she'll support her husband's appeal against his sex crime convictions.
She had announced the end of their 25-year marriage via Twitter moments after he was found guilty.
Three days later, she explained her reasons for leaving him exclusively to a tabloid newspaper - an interview she was paid £25,000 for.
In another tabloid interview since, the mother of two said she was supporting his appeal against both conviction and sentence, believing him to be the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Additional reporting by Will Janes.
