A convicted stalker is continuing to pose as a parliamentary Labour candidate in Wales – despite having been suspended from the party.
Chris Hardy regularly delivers leaflets in the Carmarthen East & Dinefwr constituency, claiming to be Labour’s candidate for the next general election.
He has a website – www.labourchris.com – with a video in which he introduces himself, and which carries long statements about his policies and political philosophy.
It also invites people to volunteer to campaign with him and has a facility for supporters to donate money to the Labour Party.
On his website Mr Hardy, who lives near Newcastle Emlyn, writes: “Hello! My name’s Chris Hardy and I’m your local Labour Party candidate for the Carmarthen East & Dinefwr Constituency...
“I’m a 34-year-old single gay man and I’ve lived here in Carmarthenshire since 2012, moving here from Manchester, England. I’d never really considered living here in Wales before, but fancying a change of scenery from city life, I made the move.
“I’ve been causing trouble ever since – but in a good way I hope – by being an advocate wherever possible for standing and speaking up for what’s right.”
One fact Mr Hardy does not mention on his website is that on December 17, 2018, he was convicted of stalking a 19-year-old man, and issued with a three-year restraining order to stop him contacting his victim.
In February this year he received a 12-month prison sentence at Swansea Crown Court, suspended for two years.
The court heard that Mr Hardy had became infatuated with a teenager and bombarded him with lengthy love letters and “mix CDs”, and drove past his house more than 300 times.
Mr Hardy wrote to his victim’s local social services department claiming the young man’s parents were putting pressure on him to not accept his true sexual identity – and then claimed police had used computer animation to doctor CCTV footage of him.
A judge branded the IT consultant an “arrogant, narcissistic, obsessive individual”.
Swansea Crown Court heard Hardy met his victim in a shop in west Wales in 2017.
The 19-year-old did no more than exchange polite “chat” with Hardy, but the defendant quickly became obsessed with his victim.
Before his trial he had even asked a judge to remand his victim into custody to get the youngster away from the influence of his parents – a request the judge refused.
Mr Hardy also claimed police had digitally doctored CCTV footage, and used the victim’s brother to play the part of the teenager in a fake witness video.
The court heard the victim had been deeply troubled by the stalking, had left the family home and spent periods staying with friends to try to avoid Mr Hardy. The teenager said he felt the pursuit by the defendant would never stop.
Judge Paul Thomas QC asked Mr Hardy, who represented himself during the sentencing hearing as he had done during his trial, why he should not send him straight to prison.
He responded that while he did not agree with the verdict of the jury and knew “the truth” about the situation with the teenager, he was “a man of honour” who would abide by the court’s ruling.
He said he had not breached his bail conditions during the police investigation and court process by approaching the teenager, did not pose a danger to anyone, and did not deserve to be sent to prison.
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The judge told Mr Hardy he had made “unwanted, persistent, and obsessional advances” towards his victim even after it had been made clear to him that the teenager did not want a relationship.
He said the defendant had caused his victim a great deal of distress, and had shown no remorse for his actions.
He told Mr Hardy: “You are, in my mind, an arrogant, narcissistic, obsessive individual who considers himself to be cleverer and more capable than us mere mortals.”
Sentencing Mr Hardy, the judge told him there was no point in imposing any kind of requirements such as a rehabilitation course on him because “in your arrogance you do not believe you have a problem”.
Judge Thomas warned him that if he were to commit any offence during the course of the suspended sentence he would be brought back before him and “I will send you to prison for 12 months – and a little bit more on top”.
A Welsh Labour spokesman said: “Our candidate in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr is Maria Carroll, who was elected by local party members. She is an excellent local campaigner and we look forward to her representing us at the next general election.
“For the sake of clarity, Chris Hardy is not and never has been our candidate. No-one should be fooled by his delusional behaviour.”
The party does not discuss disciplinary cases but it is understood that Mr Hardy was suspended from membership in summer 2018, when allegations of criminal behaviour were raised with it. The party – locally and nationally – is understood to have taken action to try to prevent Mr Hardy using its logo, slogans and branding. This has included “cease and desist” letters.
However, Mr Hardy was distributing leaflets door to door in the constituency as recently as March 24.
Mr Hardy did not respond to a message we sent to him seeking comment.
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr’s Plaid Cymru MP, Jonathan Edwards, was re-elected at the last general election in 2017 with a majority of 3,908 over Labour.
