A former senior government adviser denied sexually assaulting a woman at a Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton when he appeared in court in Hove this afternoon (Monday 10 August).
Neil Sherlock, 62, was special adviser to the former Lib Dem leader Sir Nick Clegg when he was Deputy Prime Minister.
Sherlock, of Grosvenor Road, Godalming, is alleged to have assaulted the woman during the Lib Dem party conference in Brighton on Tuesday 18 September 2007.
The former civil servant and consultant appeared in the dock in a blue pin-striped suit and yellow tie and spoke only to confirm his name and enter his plea.
At Hove Crown Court, Sherlock was told that he would go on trial on Monday 29 November next year and that the trial was expected to last four to five days.
Judge Jeremy Gold remanded him on conditional bail and ordered him not to contact or try to contact the complainant who was 30 at the time of the alleged assault.
Sherlock, who worked for the former Lib Dem leader from January 2012 to March 2013, was charged with sexual assault in May.
The alleged attack was reported to the police in September 2023 and was said to have happened when Sherlock was a partner at KPMG.
He joined the professional services firm in September 1985 and left in December 2011 to work for Sir Nick in the coalition government headed by David Cameron, now Lord Cameron.
Sherlock was made a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2015 for public and political service.
Last month, on Monday 13 July, he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court where he denied the charge and was bailed to appear in the crown court.
He graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a first-class degree in philosophy, politics and economics.
Sherlock is now a partner at Acuti Associates, which he co-founded three years ago, advising senior business executives in the public and private sector on navigating a “new more uncertain” age.
Sussex Police, which is leading the investigation, said: “Police received a report in September 2023 of a non-recent sexual assault alleged to have taken place in Brighton in September 2007.
“Following an investigation, Neil Sherlock, 62, of Godalming, Surrey, was charged on Friday 15 May 2026 with one count of sexual assault on a female.”
