The wife of the former Tory Minister Neil Hamilton has dismissed allegations that she and her husband were involved in a serious sexual assault as "nonsense on stilts".
The couple were arrested and interviewed yesterday by detectives over claims that they were present and committed indecent acts while a young woman was raped.
They were later released on police bail after having originally voluntarily presented themselves for interview at Barkingside Police Station in east London.
In a radio interview this morning, Mrs Christine Hamilton insisted that she had never met the woman who made the allegations and had never been to Ilford, where the alleged assault took place.
"The whole thing is just a monstrous, outrageous waste of police time and I think they probably know that. It was the most ghastly, grotesque, humiliating experience," she told BBC radio.
"The whole thing is nonsense on stilts. We are not expecting charges. Frankly I think the police have wasted enough time on this. If charges are brought then I give up on the police.
"It is mind-boggling that it has got this far. If they bring charges, well, in the famous words of somebody else, then I'm a banana."
PA