Hampshire Reform UK councillor is suspended by the party after being charged with 35 offences, including 12 counts of rape

George Madgwick, 37, a Hampshire County Council member, faces 35 charges in total, with the Crown Prosecution Service confirming the offences include rape, stalking, false imprisonment and making a threat to kill. The allegations involve four victims, aged between 16 and 17 at the time, with offences said to have taken place in Portsmouth and Wales between 2008 and 2021. Madgwick was arrested in Wandsworth, London, in January and is bailed to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court on November 25.

Charges also include two counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault by penetration, and counts of making and distributing indecent images of a child.

Hampshire Police launched their investigation in July 2025 after receiving a report of a sexual offence — more than a decade after some of the alleged offending began.

A separate story: West Yorkshire Police officer PC Jo Lavender, 45, has been jailed for seven years for raping a woman in 2002, the same year he joined the force.