UK politician charged with sex offenses

The Conservative Deputy Speaker in Britain's lower house of parliament has quit after the public prosecutor announced that he will be charged with rape and sexual assault.

Nigel Evans, 55, an MP in Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, was initially arrested in May on suspicion of committing rape and sexual assaults between 2009 and March this year.

He was re-arrested in June over a further three counts of indecent assault, some dating back to 2002, and will now appear in court on September 18.

"After careful consideration, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to prosecute Mr Evans," the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.

"Lancashire Constabulary has therefore been authorised to charge two counts of indecent assault, five counts of sexual assault and one count of rape relating to a total of seven alleged victims."

The allegations involve men in their twenties.

Evans later announced he was leaving his role as deputy speaker, but maintained his innocence.

"Whilst I'm saddened this case has not been closed today, I am certain of two things: firstly that I am innocent; and secondly, that my innocence will be demonstrated," he said after leaving Preston police station in north west England.

"Having informed my fellow deputy speakers Lindsay Hoyle and Dawn Primarolo, my association chairman and my staff, I can confirm I will now resign as deputy speaker."

However, he revealed that he would remain an MP.

At the time of the original allegations, Evans dismissed them as "completely false", saying they had been made by two people he had "regarded as friends".

In June he said: "I continue to refute all allegations."

Evans was one of three deputy speakers elected in a secret ballot of MPs in 2010 and later that year revealed he was gay, saying he was "tired of living a lie".

- AFP