A Reform UK councillor just got charged with rape offences

George Madgwick has just been charged with 35 offences.

Twelve of them are rape.

He was the Reform UK leader on Hampshire County Council.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced this six days ago. Madgwick is 37.

He is due at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court in sixteen days, on 25 November.

He has not entered a plea. Nothing has been proven.

A CPS spokesperson says quote "decided to prosecute George Madgwick for serious sexual offences".

That's the CPS confirming the case, not a court.

The CPS has also said this: a decision to prosecute does not establish guilt. And it has warned against any reporting that could put a fair trial at risk.

So what is he actually charged with?

Thirty-five offences in total.

Twelve counts of rape. Two counts of sexual assault. Two counts of assault by penetration. Two counts of making indecent images of a child, and one count of distributing them.

He also faces a charge of making a threat to kill. One of false imprisonment. One of stalking.

Then eight counts of actual bodily harm. Two counts of controlling or coercive behaviour. One count of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child. One count of criminal damage. One count of theft.

That's 35.

The allegations involve four complainants. They were 16 and 17 at the time. The claims cover 2008 to 2021, in Portsmouth and in Wales.

Those are allegations. A court has not tested any of them.

So how did this case get here?

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary opened the investigation fifteen months ago, after a report of a sexual offence.

Officers arrested a man in Wandsworth, south-west London, ten months ago.

The CPS has now authorised the charges.

Madgwick sits for North East Havant on Hampshire County Council. He also sits for Paulsgrove on Portsmouth City Council.