Emails will prove vital to Hamiltons' rape denial

Emails look as though they will be the vital evidence in the bizarre rape claims surrounding disgraced former MP Neil Hamilton and his wife.

Detectives are currently investigating a wide range of serious sexual allegations levelled against the Hamiltons and Barry Lehaney. An unnamed mother of four has claimed she was raped after being given a spiked drink in a house in Ilford, east London. While being raped, she alleges that former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton masturbated over her, while his wife Christine squatted on her face.

The Hamiltons have been very public with their abject denial of all the allegations, however, the case looks as though it may rest on email evidence. The woman who has made the claims says she first met Mr Lehaney in an Internet chatroom. Their conversations included sexual content, and at one point the woman says she was informed she could earn £5,000 a day as a London prostitute.

After these conversations, she was allegedly contacted by Christine Hamilton, calling herself Lady Hamilton and using the email address "britishbattleaxe". It is said the Hamiltons then sent her "pornographic and threatening messages".

When the police arrested the Hamiltons in connection with the allegations, they seized two computers from their house, which they are now carefully examining for any trace of the emails.

UK newspapers have given acres of space to the case in recent days as it has become increasingly bizarre. The Hamiltons have confused and bemused the media by being completely open about the situation, including detailed information about the allegations (which would never have been released by the police) and the supply of transcripts from police interviews.

The couple, reviled and mocked in the past as their indiscretions have come back to haunt them, have also made themselves available to all manner of print and TV interviews and Mr Hamilton even repeated parts of his morning jog so that cameramen could get the best shot.

They are now criticising the law - changed in the 1980s - which allows those accused of rape to be identified but the rape accuser/victim to remain anonymous. Some have already counter-argued that the Hamiltons have defeated their own indignation by being so ready to give interviews to the press.

Meanwhile, the unnamed woman has been called a sexual fantasist by a former boyfriend. She also hired celebrity publicist Max Clifford to sell her story before she went to the police. The introduction of Clifford makes the situation all the more bizarre as he represented Mohammed Fayed when the Harrods boss was in court over accusations that Mr Hamilton has taken money off him to ask questions in Parliament.

It looks as this will run and run. ®