Conservative MP’s chief of staff ‘raped woman’

A Conservative MP’s chief of staff raped a woman in his boss’s office after calling her a ‘b***h’ when she rebuffed his advances, a court has heard.

Samuel Armstrong, 24, is alleged to have attacked the woman, who also worked in Parliament, after drinking with her in the Sports and Social Bar.

Armstrong, an aide for South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay, is said to have taken advantage of his victim, who is in her 20s, when they were alone in his boss’s office.

A court heard she ‘felt like a hostage during the attack’ then ‘fled through the corridors in a distressed state, shaking and crying’. 

She eventually found a cleaner, who contacted police, and a jury heard she told officers she was amazed there were ‘no police anywhere in one of Britain’s most important buildings’. 

Southwark Crown Court heard he played jazz music, then began kissing and touching the woman before asking her back to his flat in Clapham.

But when she told him ‘no’ several times, Armstrong repeatedly called her a ‘b***h’ before taking off her clothes and assaulting her, jurors were told. 

The court heard she ‘froze’ as he became ‘physical’, taking off her clothes and assaulting her. Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC said the woman asked: ‘What are you doing?’

Armstrong allegedly told her: ‘This is what you want.’

Mr Heywood added: ‘In saying that he was not, of course, genuinely speaking for her or reflecting any truth of the situation. He was imposing himself on her.’ 

The alleged rape took place in room G27 of the Norman Shaw North building in the early hours of October 14 last year. 

The building was formerly New Scotland Yard but was refurbished in the 1970s and became part of the Palace of Westminster, with 128 MP’s offices installed while a walkway between the building and Portcullis House was created in 2000. 

Mr Heywood said: ‘His reaction was telling: it was one full of entitlement. He was not prepared to accept any refusal.

‘Instead, he became insistent, determined perhaps. As he knew perfectly well, he had her at a very distinct disadvantage.’  

Armstrong then got on top of the woman, gripping her elbows as she lay back, and raped her as she tried to push him off, it is said.

‘She did not ask him to do so or otherwise give him any indication: he simply did it.

‘She said to him: ‘What are you doing?’,’ said Mr Heywood.

‘His answer speaks volumes: ‘This is what you want!’

‘In saying that he was not, of course, speaking for her or reflecting any truth of the situation. He was imposing himself on her.

Armstrong works for Conservative South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay, pictured, and the attack allegedly took place in his office

‘This even extended, at one point, to him pulling her round on top of him, while he then sat on the sofa.’

Armstrong ‘kept trying’ to have sex with her but after a time ‘grabbed the woman by the hair and forced her head down as he raped her a second time’ in an ‘unpleasant attack’. 

Mr Heywood added: ‘Afterwards, he left her. She got herself dressed and went straight from his office, leaving that place and him there.’ 

Jurors heard Armstrong used another exit before sending her a number of text messages, one of which showed concern asking if she had ‘any issues’.

In the first message at 2.11am he wrote ‘Have you got out OK?’, which was followed by another message, which said: ‘At this time of night you won’t be able to use the usual exits’.

In a third message at 2.16am he wrote: ‘I’m concerned. If you have any issues then text me’.

The alleged victim was captured on CCTV running through the corridors of Westminster, leaving through Portcullis House at about 2.05am.

She asked a cleaner to call police when he saw her ‘shaking and crying’ near the closed Sports and Social bar, jurors heard. 

The court heard she suffered a number of bruises and abrasions to her genitals, arms and mouth which were consistent with but do not prove the allegations. 

The court heard Armstrong told the woman ‘you want this’ and ‘raped her repeatedly’ on the sofa of the office in the Norman Shaw North building (pictured left). The building was previously part of New Scotland Yard but became part of Parliament in the 1970s and has a walkway to Portcullis House to enable MPs to reach votes more quickly

Sarah Forshaw QC, defending, suggested the complainant had not wanted to hand her medical records to police because they would have revealed she suffered from mental health issues in the past.

Giving evidence in court from behind a screen, the woman denied experiencing ‘extreme swings of mood’, but said she was suffering from mild depression and anxiety at the time of the alleged attack.

She also admitted to having previously made a bullying claim against a female university professor.

Cross-examining the witness, Ms Forshaw suggested the complainant had invented claims Armstrong called her a ‘bitch’ after hearing him using the phrase ‘bitch, please’ as part of a running joke with his colleagues.

The barrister said: ‘You picked up on that when you decided to make an untrue suggestion that you were unwilling to have sex, when you told police “he called me bitch a lot”, didn’t you?’

‘No,’ the complainant replied.

Ms Forshaw suggested the alleged victim, “inhibited by drink”, found Armstrong attractive and willingly had sex with him after he gave her a tour of Parliament.

The barrister said: ‘It wasn’t until after you and he had had consensual sex and he let you go on your own that you found you couldn’t find your way out of the House of Commons, that’s what happened, and you had a sort of panic attack, anxiety … and you couldn’t find your way out?’

The woman denied the claims and replied: ‘I couldn’t find my way out and I was crying because a man had forced himself upon me.’ 

A court heard Armstrong, pictured with former prime minister David Cameron, had drinks with the woman and then ‘abused his position’ to take her to the office where he allegedly attacked her

The complainant told police she ‘felt like a hostage’ during the attack, which began after she nodded off on the sofa in Mr Mackinlay’s office.

‘I fell asleep and the next thing I remember was him (Armstrong) with his hand on my left breast, and him kissing my mouth and my neck,’ she said during an hour-long police video interview played to the jury.

‘He kept saying come back to his flat, and I kept mumbling ‘no’, and he kept saying it,’ she said. He called me a ‘b***h’ a few times.’

The woman continued: ‘I remember my body just freezing and I had no clue what was going on, as ridiculous as that sounds.’

She said Armstrong undressed her and himself and continued the attack as she thought ‘I need to escape’, and asked him: ‘What are you doing?’

‘He said ‘This is what you want’,’ she told police during the November 22 interview.

The complainant said she felt ‘very vulnerable’ and ‘incredibly alone’ as Armstrong raped her, adding: ‘I felt like a hostage. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t control my body.’

Once the alleged attack was over, the complainant said she dressed and left as soon as possible, first walking, then running through Westminster until she found a cleaner, who alerted police.

‘It ‘s one of the most important buildings in Britain. It has no police anywhere,’ she said. 

The court heard Armstrong has a ‘clear interest in politics’ and had previously worked as a volunteer activist for the Conservative Party while still at university.

He was recommended to Mr Mackinlay as ‘a hard worker’ and, following some part-time interning, was employed as the MP’s Chief of Staff in April 2016.

His role involved running Mr Mackinlay’s office, organising his media campaigns and also having oversight over more junior members of staff.

Jurors were told Mr Mackinlay’s office was located in the Norman Shaw building, which is security controlled with access limited to those authorised by the Parliamentary authorities.

Armstrong had a pass along with an electronic key to access his boss’ room.

The pair were drinking in the Sports and Social Bar, pictured, earlier in the night before Armstrong ‘took advantage of the woman’

His alleged victim, who is in her 20s, had been at home earlier on the day of the incident and was greeted by Armstrong at the entrance to the Palace at around 8pm.

Having escorted her through security the pair, described in court as ‘quite good friends’, joined Armstrong’s friends and colleagues at the Sports and Social Bar.

‘The atmosphere was very friendly, very relaxed,’ said Mr Heywood adding there was ‘nothing of any concern to anyone’.

Shortly after 9.30pm he took the woman to the roof garden terrace, usually off limits to visitors, to see Big Ben chime on the hour before heading back to the bar.

‘The mood was light-hearted – she put it herself, very jolly,’ said Mr Heywood.

‘Playful is how she described it.’

The prosecutor told jurors the woman recalled having ‘had four or five drinks’ and rated herself ‘a half’ on a ten-point scale.

As the bar closed up and the guests dwindled away, the pair were spotted on CCTV cameras making their way back to his boss’ office.

‘There was physical contact from time to time,’ the prosecutor continued.

‘For example, she took and held his arm as they walked along. It is clear, as she says, they had already become good friends.’

Mr Heywood added: ‘The prosecution suggests there is no apparent difficulty at all and entirely in accordance with a view that they are together, friendly with occasional physical contact at that point – nothing more or less.’

Once inside the office, the pair sat at a three-seater sofa as jazz music played through a laptop computer before the woman fell asleep.

‘At this time we have now reached, ladies and gentlemen, is where it began to go wrong, in the early hours,’ said Mr Heywood.

‘The prosecution case is that the defendant took advantage of that situation.

‘She was being obviously open and friendly towards him.

‘The next she was aware of, she was leaning back on the sofa and he had his hand on her, moving towards her left breast.

‘He was leaning over her, pulling her bottom lip and kissing her on her mouth neck.

‘These attentions had not been the subject of any indication between them or any discussion beforehand.

The court heard the pair had seemed ‘good friends’ and had ‘playful’ exchanges at the bar, pictured, earlier in the evening

‘He had said nothing before this about any such intention and she had said nothing directly to invite it.

‘This was the defendant pressing his own attentions onto her and in doing so he made his intentions perfectly clear by saying ‘Come back to my flat’.’ 

Armstrong, from Danbury in Essex, is standing trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court, where he denies two counts of rape, one of sexual assault and one of assault by penetration on October 14, 2016.

He was arrested at 5.39am and later gave a prepared statement to police which said: ‘I deny the allegation of rape and wish to say that any contact between (the complainant) and I was at all times consensual.

‘I do not wish to say anything further at this point.’ 

Armstrong appeared in the dock on Tuesday wearing a dark suit, as the prosecutor outlined the case against him.

Mr Heywood said: ‘On a night in the autumn of last year this defendant abused his position.’

He told a jury of seven women and five men ‘after an evening of drinking at his workplace’, Armstrong ‘took advantage of’ his alleged victim after hours when they were alone in Mr Mackinlay’s office.

Jurors were told Armstrong claims what happened took place with ‘full consent’.

The trial, which is expected to last for two weeks, continues.