Overview
- A jury at Southwark Crown Court found Patrick Spencer not guilty of two counts of sexual assault on Friday after about seven hours of deliberation and returned majority verdicts on both charges.
- Prosecutors said CCTV and witness accounts showed Spencer approaching two women at the Groucho Club in August 2023 and putting his arms around them, with the allegation that he touched their breasts without consent.
- Spencer told police and the court he had been overfriendly, apologised for his conduct, denied deliberate sexual touching, and argued any contact was accidental or unintentional.
- The judge barred evidence of an autism diagnosis from jurors as irrelevant to whether the touching was a sexual assault, and the Met Police has publicly apologised for earlier investigative failings after a 2025 review reassigned the case to a new team.
- Spencer lost the Conservative whip after being charged and has sat as an independent MP; the acquittal ends the criminal proceedings but political, disciplinary or civil questions could still follow and his family and political future remain affected.