Former Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan has been jailed for 18 months following his conviction for sexually assaulting a teenager.
Passing sentence at Southwark Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said the victim had been “profoundly psychologically affected” by Khan’s actions.
He added: “The only regret you feel is towards yourself for having found yourself in the predicament you face as a result of your actions some 14 years ago.”
Mr Justice Baker said there was a “significant degree of brutality” in the lead-up to Khan’s assault on the 15 year old.
“I am satisfied the complainant was particularly vulnerable. Not only was he 15 years of age at the date of the offence, but I accept his mother’s description that he was not very worldly and very young for his age,” he said.
The judge told Khan: “Although it may well be, over the years, you had let yourself believe you had got away with having committed this offence, I am sure you were aware from the outset there was a risk there would be a day of reckoning.”
The judge said he did not accept Khan had “any remorse” for what he had done.
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However, Mr Justice Baker went on to say that he did not consider Khan’s offence to be “sufficiently severe enough to place the assault into the most severe category.”
Khan, 48, is a member of the Ahmadiyya community. He was elected as Wakefield MP in 2019, but was found guilty of groping the boy at a party in 2008. He was expelled by the Conservative party following his conviction and later stood down as an MP.
In mitigation, Khan’s defence lawyer said the former MP had gone from “high public office” to being “utterly and completely disgraced, with his life and career in ruins, shamed and humiliated at every turn.”
“To say his reputation is in tatters does not do the matter justice. It has been completely destroyed,” she said.
“Mr Khan’s fall from grace has been spectacular. He will always be known as a disgraced former MP and he will take that to his grave.”
