Lib Dem MP accused of being a paedophile admits he 'kissed and cuddled' the teenage girl

Publication date: 23 February 2011

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

UPDATED: 12:32 GMT, 23 February 2011

We had a 'close and affectionate' relationship, admits MP

Slurs: MP Mike Hancock was branded 'a paedophile' by an election rival who accused him of 'having sex with a 14-year-old girl'

A leading Lib Dem MP who was accused by an election rival of 'having sex with a 14-year-old girl' yesterday admitted he 'kissed and cuddled' her.

Mike Hancock, 64, was branded 'a paedophile' in a leaflet by opposition candidate Les Cummings, 66, last year.

Cummings is on trial charged with making a false statement about the character of Mr Hancock with the purpose of affecting the return of the election.

But Hancock yesterday admitted that he had a 'close and affectionate relationship' with the girl in question. He also admitted to 'a few' extra marital affairs.

He said he first met the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in her late teens in 1985 and the relationship gradually developed until she married in about 1993.

Mr Hancock said the girl was 17-years-old and not 14 as had been alleged in the leaflet. He said that the girl had driven to his office with her mother to enquire about work experience.

'We were close and developed a personal friendship', he told the court. 'It was a very affectionate relationship - it was strong but not sexual.

'There was physical contact between us - a kiss and a cuddle - but no more than that.

Under cross-examination, Mr Hancock said he had had 'a few' extra-marital affairs he had told his wife about and they had been reported in newspapers.

Mr Hancock said that allegations that he was a paedophile and corrupt were 'absolutely untrue and offensive'.

The court case comes after Mr Hancock was belived to have been targeted in a honeytrap plot by a pretty Russian spy on one of his trips to Moscow.

Katia Zatuliveter worked for the MP for for about three years and has had access to numerous classified defence documents.

Mr Hancock's former aide Katia Zatuliveter, left, was deported and the MP also faced questions over his links to student Ekaterina Paderina, right

Mr Hancock also faced questions about womanising after it emerge that he advised Ekaterina Paderina, then 25, that she had every right to remain in Britain after she fell out with her middle-aged husband.

The Liberal Democrat MP met Miss Paderina on several occasions following the demise of her marriage to retired merchant seaman, Eric Butler, then 54, in the late 1990s. There was no suggestion of an improper relationship.

In the court case, Mr Hancock yesterday told Southampton Magistrates' Court that the leaflet published by political opponent Les Cummings during last year's general election had 'horrified' him when he was given a copy by a constituent on April 22 last year.

Cummings, who was standing against Mr Hancock for the Justice and Anti-Corruption Party in the Portsmouth South seat, had written on the A4 sheet: 'Mike Hancock is a paedophile.'

It then showed a picture of Mr Hancock with children and the words: 'Would you let him get this close to your children?'

But giving evidence Mr Hancock said it was 'absolutely not' true he was a paedophile. I'm horrified that anyone could make it (the allegation).

Honeytrap: Alleged Russian Spy Katia Zatuliveter enjoys a drink on a night out. Mr Hancock gave the blonde suspected agent a parliamentary pass

Close: Mr Hancock advised Ekaterina Paderina, then 25, that she had every right to remain in Britain after she fell out with her middle-aged husband

He was asked by Alison Morgan, prosecuting: 'How did you feel about that suggestion?' Mr Hancock replied: 'sickened.'

The Liberal Democrat went on to deny other allegations in the leaflet that he had an affair with a 14-year-old girl he had been seen in a casino with, or that he had been seen in bed with children while on charity work in Romania with Mencap in the 1990s.

'Impossible and untrue,' the politician said.That's really offensive to people I have worked with and to me, he told the court.

He also denied being corrupt and associating with known criminals. 'I know lots of people but I do not associate myself with known criminals. I do not ask people who come into my office if they have a criminal record,' he said.

The politician was given permission to check his mobile phone during his evidence as his mother is seriously ill.

Cummings, 66, denies making a false statement to affect the return of the election under the Representation of the Peoples Act.

The court heard that Cummings allegations were 'rumour' and he had no evidence for it. Mr Hancock won the election with an increased majority.

Cummings told the court he had been abused as a child at a Portsmouth children's home along with other family members and he had sought an apology from Portsmouth City Council, where Mr Hancock is also a councillor, but he had not received one.

He told the court from the witness box it was his '100 percent belief' that Mr Hancock is a paedophile.

He said the information about the allegations he printed in the leaflet came from several sources.

This included his electoral agent, Leo Ciccarone, who heard it from another man and a woman described in court as Maria Smythe who said she had overheard her mother talking about the Romanian allegations over family dinners.

'Each piece of information led to another that led to another and that gave more credence to my beliefs,' Cummings said.

He said he 'was alarmed and astounded' that the city he held responsible for exposing him to abuse had a representative 'behaving in exactly the same way as the people who were abusing me all those years ago'.

He explained the leaflet had been written at night 'when the ghosts from the past had come' to him.

'I was so disgusted by the situation. I wanted to shock people. On reflection I kind of wish I had not done that. I was acting like a victim at that time. I did not want anybody else to be exposed to what I believe was a sexual predator and paedophile.'

Under cross examination, Alison Morgan said the leaflet was not an attempt to expose Mr Hancock but 'a smear campaign' and a 'vendetta' to discredit him because he was angry with Mr Hancock over the lack of a council apology for his abuse.

'By 2010 you had an obsession with Mike Hancock. You were obsessed with trying to discredit him,' she told the court.

Cummings replied: 'My aim was to expose Mike Hancock as a paedophile.'

Cummings admitted he had received a letter from solicitors acting for one of the girls he thought had an underage affair with Mr Hancock which told him she said the allegations were untrue.

The court heard that Cummings ignored the letter because it came from solicitors three months after he had written to her, so he chose not to believe it. He said he had a great mistrust of authority after his experiences as a child.

The trial continues.

Countries: Romania

Persons: Michael Hancock, MP