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Groping lies of Farage ‘mistress’ wrecked my marriage says furious MP accused of assaulting Ukip aide on his balcony
- Andrew Bridgen, MP met Annabelle Fuller in a pub across the road from his Westminster flat
- He says going to pub for a drink was ‘biggest mistake in my life’
- Police arrested politician but case was dropped within days
- She ran barefoot from flat taking MP’s phone and security pass with her
- Claims that she did not know Mr Bridgen was an MP when she met him
By Paul Cahalan
Published: 01:55, 13 April 2014 | Updated: 02:05, 13 April 2014
A Conservative MP who claims that he was falsely accused of sexually assaulting Nigel Farage’s ‘former mistress’ has spoken for the first time about how the incident cost him his marriage and family.
Andrew Bridgen said that Annabelle Fuller, a Ukip spokeswoman, had ‘ruined his life’ after claiming she was groped on the balcony of his Westminster flat in June 2011.
Police were told by an informant last month that Miss Fuller, 32, had concocted the claim after stealing his phone and later confessed she had ‘stitched him up’.
Annabelle Fuller (left) who was named as a mistress of Nigel Farage (an allegation that they both deny) went to the Westminster flat of Tory MP Andrew Bridgen (with wife Jackie, right) and claimed that she was groped on his balcony. Mr Bridgen was arrested but the case was dropped within days and says the incident ruined his life and cost him his marriage
Last week it emerged that detectives have launched a formal investigation into the matter, and Miss Fuller could face being prosecuted for perverting the course of justice if the claims are proven.
After leaving the House of Commons on June 8, 2011, Mr Bridgen stopped for a drink at the Marquis of Granby pub opposite his flat.
He said that going to the pub ‘was probably the biggest mistake of my life’.
After being introduced to Miss Fuller and meeting a civil servant at the pub, who was a mutual acquaintance, the three later went back to Mr Bridgen’s flat.
Mr Bridgen said that Miss Fuller used the bathroom a number of times to make phone calls and on one occasion began complaining about a man she called ‘the bane of my life’.
He said: ‘She added something about the difference between a girlfriend and a mistress is that a girlfriend can start to relax after the third or fourth date, but a mistress has to be perfect all the time.’
Mr Bridgen, 49, who now lives apart from his wife Jackie and their two sons, said he couldn’t talk much more about the incident because of an ongoing police investigation.
After the balcony incident, Miss Fuller left the flat and within hours police had arrested Mr Bridgen.
He spent ten hours being quizzed at a police station, where he had a DNA swab and his blood taken.
The case was dropped within days when Miss Fuller gave police a statement saying that her behaviour could have been construed as flirting.
Later that month, she chose to break the anonymity which is afforded to alleged victims reporting sexual offences to tell her story to a national newspaper.
In that interview she claimed she grazed her head as she ran barefoot from the flat and a security guard made the call to police after seeing her distressed.
She said she didn’t know Mr Bridgen was an MP when she met him in the pub and only took the MP’s phone and Commons security pass as evidence of where she had been.
She added she never wanted the case against the MP to go ahead and that she had been left ‘suicidal’ after Mr Bridgen threatened to sue over the false accusations.
Six days after the incident, police told him they would not be pursuing the complaint, Mr Bridgen said, but the damage to his reputation had been done as his name was already in the news.
‘Every time you Google my name that incident comes up,’ he said.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage. Nikki Sinclaire, a transsexual former Ukip MEP, claimed that Annabelle Fuller was Mr Farage’s mistress, an allegation that they both deny
‘She waived her anonymity to give her salacious version of what happened.
‘I never had the option of my name not appearing.
‘I was a falsely accused man with nowhere to hide.
‘Those two-and-a-half hours with Annabelle Fuller have ruined my life.
‘The events of that night and the huge media intrusion of my wife and children that followed led to the end of my marriage.’
He added: ‘I believe the moment I was introduced to her as an MP I was targeted.’
Last month, MEP Nikki Sinclaire – a former Ukip member – used parliamentary privilege to claim that Miss Fuller had been Mr Farage’s mistress.
The pair have always denied the claims.
Mr Bridgen added that he completely sympathised with former deputy speaker Nigel Evans, who was cleared in court of rape and other allegations on Thursday.
A police spokesman last night said: ‘The Metropolitan Police received information relating to an alleged false claim of sexual assault.
‘The man who was the subject of the allegedly false claim was informed that this has now moved forward into a formal police investigation.’
Last night, Annabelle Fuller said: ‘I have not been arrested, interviewed or questioned by police in regard to this matter.’
A measure of just how sordid this woman is can be ascertained by tracking down the articles about her on this blog. This is the odious woman who has repeatedly brought UKIP into disrepute, whether with her vile comments and behaviour or her blatant lies.
Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)
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