MP Patrick Spencer found not guilty of Groucho Club sexual assaults
The former Conservative MP has sat as an independent while awaiting trial
MP Patrick Spencer broke down in tears as he was cleared by a jury of sexually assaulting two women at London's Groucho Club.
The 38-year-old MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich insisted he just wanted to give them a hug, on the night out in question in August 2023.
However, he was accused of coming up behind the two women, “cupping” the breasts of both before “fist pumping” towards his friends nearby.
During his police interview, Mr Spencer apologised for grabbing hold of the two women – strangers to him – from behind and conceded it was “not acceptable in this day and age”.
But at trial at Southwark Crown Court, Mr Spencer insisted that he had not touched the breasts of one of the women, while contact with the other had been accidental and unintentional.
He said the gesture he made after the second woman had pushed him away was due to him being “mortified” that she had rejected his hug, rather than celebrating groping her.
A jury deliberated for just over seven hours, before finding Spencer not guilty.
The MP covered his face with shaking hands as the verdicts were delivered, and broke down in tears before embracing his wife Anna in court.
Mr Spencer is the son of Lord Michael Spencer, a billionaire donor to the Conservative Party.
He was elected as a Conservative MP, but had the whip removed after being charged.
The incidents occurred before Mr Spencer had been elected to Parliament.
He told the court he had drunk red wine with his father at lunch, beers at Twickenham while watching an England rugby match, and drank wine and negroni cocktails at the members’ club.
Mr Spencer said in evidence that he cannot recall the incidents at the centre of the trial, but he insisted that he would not have pestered the two women to have a drink with him.
The women told jurors they were left “shocked” after being grabbed by Mr Spencer, and one said she “froze” when she says her breasts were touched.
In police interview, the MP called it a “moment of complete stupidity” but denied trying to “cop a feel”.
He called himself “overfriendly”, with a “gregarious” personality, and conceded to police: “Yeah, it looks terrible”.
Spencer's lawyers asked for permission for the jury to be told about his autism diagnosis, as an explanation for why he found it difficult to read social cues.
But Mr Justice Garnham blocked the evidence from the trial, ruling that it was not relevant to the question of whether Spencer had sexually assaulted the women.
But in evidence in court, Mr Spencer insisted he would never touch a woman’s breasts without consent and disputed whether the CCTV showed two sexual assaults.
He said he was “surprised” to be ejected from the members’ club, but assumed it was for “being loud, clottish, knocked over someone’s glass or I had bumped into somebody”.
Mr Spencer was identified by Groucho Club staff after the sexual assault allegations were first made, but a Metropolitan Police officer failed to pursue the investigation and did not even take statements from the women.
After a complaint that the investigation had stalled, the Met conducted a review in early 2025 and brought in a new detective, gathering statements and questioning the MP.
Met Police Commander Andy Day said: “We acknowledge that this investigation initially fell below the high standards we would expect, and we have apologised to the two women who made reports.
“We conducted a further wider review to understand any steps which were missed in the initial investigation which is reflected the Met’s new victim-centred sexual offences policy."
The officer who failed to take witness statements was investigated by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, but ultimately no disciplinary proceedings were brought.