Police drop probe into ex-MP Mark Menzies over alleged misuse of donors' funds after repayment agreement

Lancashire Police said it has closed a months-long investigation into former Conservative MP Mark Menzies after finding "no evidence that any criminal offences have taken place" and following an agreement by Menzies to repay some money taken from a local donors' account.

Police launched the inquiry last year after reports that Menzies, the former MP for Fylde who stood down at the last general election, had used funds raised from local supporters to cover personal expenses. BBC News and other reports say some of the money was used to pay sex workers and that the former MP made urgent late-night demands for cash in December 2023.

According to accounts published in national newspapers and given to investigators, Menzies telephoned a long-standing Conservative volunteer, Katie Fieldhouse, at around 3am in December 2023 claiming he was being held in a London flat by "bad people" and urgently needed thousands of pounds. He is reported to have made other calls that morning and ultimately borrowed roughly £8,500 from an office manager and another aide. About £6,500 of that sum was later repaid from a bank account set up for money raised from local political supporters.

Questions were also raised over a further about £14,000 taken from donor funds that Menzies later described as medical expenses to a signatory on the account. One man who later spoke to reporters and investigators admitted he had agreed to have sex with the former MP for payment and said a multi-day gathering had taken place at the flat. He denied that Menzies had been locked in and said he had not been aware Menzies was a politician.

Lancashire Police said officers spent months interviewing several people with knowledge of the spending. Two people interviewed as part of the police inquiry told the BBC they were told the investigation was closed in part because Menzies had agreed to repay funds; it is not clear how much he has committed to return. Police records show a repayment of £1,000 was made into the business account in June.

The incident prompted a separate review by Ipsa, the parliamentary expenses watchdog, after an aide alleged he had been repaid via a bonus from the parliamentary staffing budget. Ipsa examined a bonus of £700 that was paid a few days after the December incident. In a report published Tuesday, Ipsa's compliance officer said the case was "not proven". The report said there was "evidence of wrongdoing", including the timing of the payment, but that statements from witnesses were inconsistent and that a definitive link between the bonus and a reimbursement claim could not be established.

One former staffer told investigators the bonus was legitimately for work on a wind farm application; the aide who reported the alleged reimbursement said the wind-farm explanation had been used as a cover for repayment of money he had lent to the MP.

Menzies, first elected in 2010, resigned as a ministerial aide in 2014 after allegations he had paid for sex from a male sex worker, which he denied at the time. His political career ended in April last year after press reports about the alleged misuse of campaign funds. The Conservative Party confirmed it had provided him a hardship loan after he stood down; he is not believed to have returned to employment since leaving Parliament. Menzies did not respond to a request for comment.

Both the police and Ipsa said they will not take further action. Lancashire Police described its probe as "full and thorough" and that it had found insufficient evidence to support charges of fraud or misconduct in public office. Ipsa concluded its compliance review without a finding of culpability, saying the available evidence did not meet the threshold for enforcement.

The closure of the inquiries ends two formal probes into the former MP's conduct but leaves unresolved questions about the use of locally raised campaign funds and the circumstances surrounding the December 2023 incident. Fieldhouse, the local volunteer who received the early-morning call, said police had informed her there was insufficient evidence to prosecute and that Menzies had agreed to repay money to the account she helped administer.