Never forget the majority of politicians spend 80% of their time seeking promotion & re-election & 20% enjoying the… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…1 hour ago
It relates to her being sued for libel and slander by Sir Kevin Barron, MP for Rother Valley, John Healey, MP for Wentworth and Dearne, and Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham, over a speech she made in 2014 about the Rotherham child abuse scandal.
The High Court heard she alleged that each of the MPs knew details of the exploitation but chose not to intervene.
Today Ms Collins appeared at a private hearing at Hull County Court to discuss a demand for payment issued by the MPs’ lawyers. It is understood the MEP had requested the demand was set aside but this was not agreed at the hearing.
A spokeswoman for Ms Collins said the judge has now ordered an examination of her assets and that she will face bankruptcy proceedings if it is found that she cannot make the payments owed.
It came after Ms Collins alleged the three Labour MPs in the South Yorkshire town knew about the notorious child abuse scandal but did not intervene because of political correctness, cowardice, or selfishness.
Sir Kevin Barron, MP for Rother Valley, John Healey, MP for Wentworth and Dearne, and Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham, sued Ms Collins for libel and slander over the speech, which she gave at Ukip’s conference in September 2014. At the time, it was a month after a report found about 1,400 children in the area had been abused between 1997 and 2013.
Ms Collins argued it was a political speech which did not contain any allegation of fact but expressed an opinion to the effect that the MPs were likely to have known sexual exploitation was a serious problem in the area.
But Mr Justice Warby ordered her to pay a total of £162,000 damages to the MPs and £196,000 in costs.
She appeared at at Hull County Court for a further private hearing on Monday after she did not meet a 21-day deadline to pay the damages and an interim payment of £120,000 costs.
It is understood the MEP had requested the demand for payment issued by the MPs’ lawyers was set aside but this was not agreed at the hearing.
A spokeswoman for Ms Collinssaid the judge has now ordered that an examination of her assets should take place before June 8. The spokeswoman said she will face bankruptcy proceedings if it is found that she cannot make the payments owed.
A further court hearing will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London later this year to discuss how she intends to pay.
Ms Collins was advised by her lawyer not to comment after the hearing on Monday but said no orders for costs had been issued during the proceedings.
Following the London hearing in February, the MPs said the case had been “delayed and dragged out time and again by Jane Collins’ repeated attempts to evade justice”.
The joint statement read: “She has run out of places to hide and the judge said in no uncertain terms that her behaviour since proceedings began has been unreasonable and offensive.
“Ms Collins could have admitted her mistake, withdrawn her remarks and apologised to us.”
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Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)
We welcome comments but reserve the right to moderate & refuse libelous or offensive comments and those we choose to delete when written by unidentifiable individuals hidden in anonymity in a cowardly manner to defame or abuse. No comment has EVER been barred or deleted which is genuine & clearly authored by a named & identifiable individual. You will note many comments made have been commented on and even corrected by the blog owner. We welcome genuine comments.