[1]Nigel Evans, one of the House of Commons’ three deputy speakers, was held Saturday on suspicion of raping one man and sexually assaulting another, but said Sunday, after being released on bail till June 19, that the allegations were “completely false”.
Mr Evans, 55, a Tory MP, was detained over alleged attacks at his Lancashire home between July 2009 and March this year, the police said. After getting bail, Mr Evans told reporters: “Yesterday I was interviewed by the police (over) two complaints — one of which dates back four years — by two people well known to each other and who until yesterday I regarded as friends. The complaints are completely false.”
Mr Evans revealed he was gay in 2010, eight years after being elected, saying he was “tired of living a lie”. He is a popular figure at Westminster, well-liked by MPs across the political spectrum, and his arrest stunned fellow Conservatives.
“Everybody’s completely shell-shocked,” Michael Ranson, chairman of the Ribble Valley Conservative Association, told Sky News. “He is a very popular MP.”
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/hm1jpg-892