See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy MARK DUELL, DEPUTY CHIEF REPORTER (DIGITAL) Published: 13:09 BST, 20 July 2026 | Updated: 13:09 BST, 20 July 2026
A former Labour MP allegedly groped a woman on a train after telling her she was 'very pretty', a court heard today.Gwynoro Jones, 83, denies sexually assaulting a woman on the Great Western Railway service from London to Swansea in July 2024.He asked the woman whether she was married - before he allegedly 'tapped her on the bottom', a trial at Swansea Crown Court was told.Jones, MP for Carmarthen from 1970 to 1974, said he may have touched the woman by accident but denies the assault and says he did not have a 'sexual motive'.The court heard Jones was a passenger in the first-class carriage of the train and had bought two small bottles of red wine on board prior to the incident.Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, said the defendant and the complainant had had an initial interaction with 'no issue'.She said: 'Later on she passed him again and at this point he grabbed hold of her arm. As he grabbed hold of her right arm, he began to stroke her arm up and down with his hand.' Gwynoro Jones, pictured in 2017, was the Labour MP for Carmarthen from 1970 to 1974 The alleged incident happened on board a Great Western Railway train service (file image)Later in the journey, she said the defendant began to ask her 'personal questions'.She said: '(He asked) if she had a boyfriend, if she was married, he asked her where she lived. He also went on to say that she was 'very pretty'. She was very uncomfortable with this interaction.'The alleged assault occurred as the woman was walking backwards through the carriage, towards where Jones was sitting.Ms Donohue said: 'As she was walking backwards the defendant had his hand out into the carriageway where she was walking so that she walked backwards into his hand. He then tapped her on her bottom with his bare hand.'The jury heard Jones told police in interview that he had chatted with the complainant but denied the offence and said he had not been 'flirting'.Ms Donohue said: 'He said he didn't intentionally touch her on the buttocks and didn't have any sexual motive to touch her. The defendant denies intentionally touching her on the bottom but says if he did it may have been accidental.'The trial at Swansea Crown Court continues.
