Ex-Hartlepool MP Mike Hill ordered to pay woman £434,000 after losing sexual harassment case

Mr Hill, who last year lost the case brought by his female accuser, must now pay her £434,435.39p following the publication of a reserved judgement by a judge.

This includes £171.251.51p for loss of earnings and pension contributions, £44,000 for injury to feelings and £12,500 in aggravated damages.

Law firm Farore Law, which represented the woman, who can only be identified as Ms A, said in a statement after last week’s ruling: “We are very pleased that today the tribunal awarded Ms A, £434,000 in damages.

"She has fought strenuously, against considerable resistance, to have her allegations upheld and a very decent award made in her favour.”

The allegations first surfaced publicly three years ago and Mr Hill was briefly suspended by the Labour Party before he was allowed to stand in the December 2019 General Election amid disputed suggestions that investigations had ended.

He eventually stood down in March 2021 ahead of the tribunal after more than three years as the town’s MP.

His departure saw Labour lose Parliamentary control of Hartlepool for the first time in 57 years after Jill Mortimer won the resulting by-election for the Tories.

The London tribunal found that Mr Hill "victimised" the woman and subjected her to "unwanted conduct of a sexual nature".

Mr Hill denied the allegations although he admitted during the hearing that he had wanted to have a sexual relationship with her.

In a witness statement included in the case judgement, Ms A said Mr Hill sexually assaulted her on a number of occasions.

She said: "He often put his arms around the front of my body and brushed his hands against my breasts.

"If I were standing up, he would always approach me from behind and he would hold me by my waist.

"I would always resist and would try to get him off me but did not always succeed."

She added: "Mr Hill would touch my bottom. When he first did this, I asked him not to do it again but, as he did then (and afterwards), he always played it down as if it was my problem and I was making more of it than I should."