We’re in the clear, says Hamilton

Neil Hamilton has claimed he and his wife are ‘‘wholly vindicated’’ after reports today that police plan to drop their investigation into allegations of sexual assault.

A report claims detectives are no longer going to pursue the claims after records of a mobile phone call from Mrs Hamilton to her mother Megan show she was 13 miles away from Ilford at the time of the alleged assault.

Scotland Yard last night said it would be ‘‘inappropriate’’ to comment on the matter.

Former Tory minister Mr Hamilton, 52, said: ‘‘We are wholly vindicated and this entirely justifies the policy that we adopted in fighting these allegations in public.’’

Mr Hamilton and his wife Christine, 51, were accused of sexually assaulting mother-of-four Nadine Milroy-Sloan at a flat in Ilford, Essex, on May 5 at around 5pm.

The couple had denied the allegations, claiming receipts and phone records would prove their innocence.

Mr Hamilton confirmed his wife had called her mother.

He said: ‘‘She called her at around 5.44pm when we were on our way from our flat in Battersea to Claridges.

‘‘It was probably just after we got into the car from the flat.’’

He said the couple were relieved the truth had come out but condemned the police for not looking at their phone records sooner.

Mr Hamilton said: ‘‘We are relieved. This has been the most ghastly week that anyone could possibly imagine.’’

Earlier the woman at the centre of the sex allegations stepped into the public spotlight and insisted she had ‘‘nothing to hide’’.

Ms Milroy-Sloan, 27, went on the offensive by waiving her right to anonymity and claiming: ‘‘I am prepared to stand up and be counted.

‘‘The Hamiltons have accused me of hiding behind the right of rape victims to remain anonymous.

‘‘But I want the world to know I have nothing to hide,’’ she told The News of the World.

Meanwhile neighbours living near Ms Milroy-Sloan’s home in Grimsby, Humberside, spoke of their ‘‘surprise’’ at learning she was the woman at the centre of the allegations, adding she ‘‘kept herself to herself’’.

The allegations have taken their toll on the Hamiltons.

Mrs Hamilton broke down in tears last week during a television interview and pulled out of a live broadcast on Friday claiming ‘‘physical and emotional exhaustion’’.