McMurdock won the seat at the general election by 98 votes. The Labour candidate came second, and the incumbent Conservative Stephen Metcalfe finished third.

After the election result, the Daily Mail said it spoke to the victim’s mother, and McMurdock released a statement in response.

He said he was 19 years old at the time, that both of them were “very drunk” and that he handed himself into police “immediately”.

“I faced the consequences then and paid for my action in full,” he said.

“It was the realisation of what happened that night and the shame I felt over it that led me to turn my life around.”