Brooks Newmark, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office who resigned last night following a tabloid sex sting. (Getty)
Brooks Newmark described the publication of his private sexts as being akin to mental rape. Getty

Disgraced Tory MP Brooks Newmark has said that having his sexting messages made public was like being 'mentally raped'.

The married former Conservative MP for Braintree stepped down as Minister for Civil Society, after revelations that he had exchanged explicit sexual images with two women were published in a Sunday newspaper.

He was apparently caught in a 'honey trap' operation by The Sunday Mirror which used a fictitious party activist called 'Sophie Wittam' who flirted with MPs via social media.

The 56-year-old, reportedly bombarded a single mother with up to 40 naked pictures and told her 'I am desperate for sex with you' during a two year affair.

In an interview with the Colchester Gazette the father of five said he felt 'violated' by the publication of the private messages and described the "emotional trauma" which followed.

"It's as though somebody drilled a hole in your head and mentally raped you, that's what it felt like: somebody raping your mind because things you thought were private were no longer private, that is the emotional trauma one feels.

"For what I did I blame nobody but myself," he added. "But how I felt as a result of it was like my mind had been violated and it is beyond humiliating because you never imagine this would happen to you."

He explained that despite his public success, he had been unhappy.

"On the surface, I have achieved everything I wanted to achieve," he said. "All those achievements for some reason didn't make me feel happy inside."

Brooks Newmark
Brooks Newmark exchanged sexts with two women which included intimate pictures.

Revealing that he had been diagnosed with depression after the sex scandal, he explained that he could not continue in public life after he had "traumatised" his family with his "bizarre and abhorrent behaviour".

"Everyone sets their own standard for themselves and I feel I have let myself down really badly and I feel that very deeply"' he added. "Lots of people in public life just plough on, it doesn't matter; they keep their jobs, they keep working and in time they either work things out or they don't work things out."

His wife, Lucy Newmark, has also moved out of the family home near Braintree, Essex, in favour of their Belgravia townhouse. Mr Newmark plans to stay in Essex and work with homeless people after he stands down in 2015 at the next election.

The methods used by the paper are currently the subject of a press watchdog investigation.