Reform UK's Hampshire group leader charged with 35 offences, including 12 rape counts

The charges

The Crown Prosecution Service said on Tuesday, 3 November, that it had charged George Madgwick, 37, with 35 offences. Prosecutors allege the offences involve four people and were committed between 2008 and 2021 in Portsmouth and Wales. Madgwick leads the Reform UK group on Hampshire County Council. The four people were between 16 and 17 years old when the alleged offences took place. The BBC places him in the Anchorage Park area of Portsmouth.

Breakdown of the counts

The charges include 12 counts of rape, eight counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and two counts each of assault by penetration, sexual assault, making indecent images of children, and controlling or coercive behaviour. Single counts cover inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, distributing one indecent image of a child, stalking, threatening to kill, false imprisonment, theft and criminal damage. Taken together, these are the 35 offences the CPS has listed against him. The allegations span several years and cover both sexual and non-sexual offences.

Next steps

A hearing at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court is scheduled for Wednesday, 25 November. Madgwick has been charged but not convicted, so the allegations remain untested until a court considers them. The charges are the first formal step reported so far, and the articles do not describe any plea or response from him.

Timeline

Key dates in the case run from the start of the alleged period in 2008 to its end in 2021, then to the charging announcement on 3 November 2026 and the scheduled hearing on 25 November.