Patrick Spencer found not guilty of sexual assault charges by jury

Patrick Spencer was found not guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court after a four-day trial over two counts of sexual assault involving two women at London’s Groucho Club. The panel took just over seven hours to reach its verdict, clearing the 38-year-old Independent MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

The allegations concerned incidents said to have happened in August 2023, months before Spencer was elected to the House of Commons on 4 July 2024. That timing made the case politically sensitive even before the trial began, because the accusations related to conduct alleged to have taken place before he entered Parliament but after the events had already become part of the public record.

When Spencer appeared in court on 16 June 2025, he denied the charges. The accusations involved him allegedly groping the breasts of two women, a detail that intensified the scrutiny surrounding a sitting MP facing criminal proceedings in London.

The verdict brings the criminal case to a close, but it does not remove the pressure such allegations place on elected office. For Parliament, cases like Spencer’s test more than the legal system: they force parties, whips and voters to weigh accountability, reputation and judgment long before a jury reaches a decision. Even when a defendant is cleared, the political damage can linger because the standard for public confidence is not the same as the standard for conviction.

Spencer’s acquittal also leaves open the wider question of how the House of Commons absorbs serious allegations against newly elected lawmakers. He entered Westminster only after the alleged August 2023 incidents, which means the case followed him into office and then through the courtroom. The jury’s decision removes the threat of criminal sanction, but it does not automatically restore the credibility that is lost when an MP is forced to answer to such accusations in the first place.