The Conservative MP for The Wrekin, Mark Pritchard, has been arrested for an alleged rape. The 48-year-old has been an MP since 2005 and is leading Pro-Life campaigner in the House of Commons.
Pritchard is believed to have voluntarily attended a Police station on Tuesday and was put on bail. There was a brief mention of the arrest in Hansard, the official record of Parliament. It lists under the “other papers” section: “Arrest of a Member: Copy of a letter addressed to the Speaker, dated 3 December 2014, from the Metropolitan
Police, relating to the arrest of Mark Pritchard, Member for The Wrekin”.
The letter was from SO17, the police guarding the Palace of Westminster, it explained to Speaker John Bercow that Pritchard was arrested at Holborn Police Station on Tuesday. He was arrested at 6:14pm and released at 10:16pm. It is standard practise for SO17 to notify the Speaker if an MP is arrested.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “We can confirm that a 48-year-old man voluntarily attended a north London police station on Tuesday, 2 December where he was arrested, following an allegation of rape in central London.
“He has been bailed to a date in early January 2015 pending further enquiries.”
He is the latest politician to be acccused of a sex crime, including former Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans who was cleared of all charges in April this year.