Agencies/London

Former Tory MP and deputy speaker Nigel Evans used his power and influence to rape and sexually abuse young men, a court heard yesterday.
Evans, 56, carried out sexual assaults over several years, jurors were told.
He raped a young man who had come to him for work experience in his Lancashire constituency, the court heard.
Following his arrest, Evans resigned as deputy speaker but remains the MP for the Ribble Valley, sitting as an independent. He has pleaded not guilty to nine sex charges involving seven alleged victims from 2002 to 2013.
The Swansea-born MP, who lives in Pendleton, Lancashire, was one of three deputy speakers elected in a secret ballot of MPs in 2010. He was a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party from 1999 to 2001
Opening the trial at Preston crown court, Mark Heywood, QC, said: “Within the Palace of Westminster, in his constituency and in his own political party, Evans was a very well-known and powerful individual.
“Part of his influence was the ability to make, or to break, the careers of young people who would be politicians or work for those who govern.
“He, often when in drink, pressed his sexual attentions on these young men, on occasions using or trading on his position of influence. This behaviour has been repeated over time despite warnings.”
The Commons Speaker John Bercow and Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin are among nine MPs who will give evidence for the prosecution.
The jury of seven men and five women heard his behaviour was “repeated over time, despite warnings of respected colleagues”.
The court heard the alleged offences grew more and more serious because Evans believed that he was too powerful for any victim to lodge an effective complaint against him.
Heywood went on: “On separate occasions over many years Evans sexually assaulted young men both in public situations and in private. By the last of these in early 2013, he raped one of the young men who had come to him for work experience. He not only abused these young men, in some instances very seriously so, but he abused the positions he held.”
The court heard Evans had a home in Pendleton near Clitheroe, a London flat in Westminster and two offices in the House of Commons for his dual role as deputy speaker and MP. The jury will hear from two ex-MPs, including former LibDem Lembit Opik. Evans has pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecent assault, six charges of sexual assault and one count of rape. The trial continues.