Tory aide claims he was 'joshing around' with woman who accused him of rape
A TORY MP’s aide told a court yesterday that a woman who accused him of rape had swapped racy banter with him as they had sex in a Westminster office.
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Samuel Armstrong, 24, claimed he was “joshing around” with the young Parliamentary worker.
He told the jury: “I said to her, ‘how does the size suit the lady?’, which is something I have heard tailors say.
“And she says the size suits very, very well.”
The chief of staff to South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay claimed she was more confident than him during the drinkfuelled session in his boss’s office.
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We were joshing around and being funny. I was being a bit of a prat
Sarah Forshaw QC, defending Armstrong at Southwark Crown Court, in London, asked him: “Were you being serious both of you?”
He replied: “We were joshing around and being funny. I was being a bit of a prat.”
Armstrong, of Danbury, Essex, denies two counts of rape. Prosecutors claim he abused his position to attack his victim when she fell asleep after a night of drinking in the Houses of Parliament.
But the defendant, who was suspended from his job and the Tory Party after the complaint, claimed she asked him to play some music when they ended up alone in the office.
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He claimed she demanded: “Dance with me.”
Armstrong told the court they danced and kissed then had sex.
He claimed she then got up to change the music.
“After a little while she said, ‘some people are going to think that you have taken advantage of me’, but it was in a sort of teasing voice,” he said.
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“I responded, ‘I’m not sure anyone could come to that conclusion’.”
He said he was stunned by his arrest, which came after she was seen in tears running along the corridors of Westminster.
“I thought there must have been some sort of mistake,” he said.
The trial continues.
