Harrogate council leader fails to answer questions about Cllr Samantha Mearns

Harrogate Borough Council and its leader have remained tight-lipped about Cllr Samantha Mearns and a police investigation into missing Porsche cars worth more than a million pounds.

Cllr Mearns was company secretary and a person “of significant control” in Knaresborough based Gmund Cars Ltd until December 2018. The company, which was run by her husband Andrew, went into administration in July 2019. There has been a subsequent police investigation into allegations that the ownership of Porsches were transferred without the owners’ permission.

Cllr Richard Cooper, the leader of Harrogate Borough Council, made Cllr Mearns the chair of the General Purposes Committee which oversees the conduct of councillors. She chaired her first meeting in June 2019.

The Stray Ferret asked Cllr Richard Cooper whether he has confidence in Cllr Mearns, when he was first made aware of the allegations and whether he has ever asked Cllr Mearns about her role at Gmund Cars Ltd.

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We gave him a full day to respond to our request and we also gave Harrogate Borough Council two days to respond to a similar line of questions. Cllr Mearns is a case worker for Andrew Jones MP. He has also refused to answer the Stray Ferret’s questions.

Anthony Place, one of the six alleged victims of Gmund Cars Ltd, lodged a complaint about Cllr Mearns to Harrogate Borough Council in June 2019.

The authority’s monitoring officer, Jennifer Norton, assessed the complaint and said it would not be something she could take further because the councillor was “not engaged in council business” so the rules of the code of conduct did not apply.

North Yorkshire Police is investigating the allegations and arrested a man in his fifties in July last year. He has not been charged and the force released him under investigation.

Harrogate MP refuses to answer Porsche investigation questions

Andrew Jones MP has refused to answer the Stray Ferret’s questions relating to Cllr Samantha Mearns and a police investigation into missing Porsche cars.

The Stray Ferret revealed yesterday allegations that Gmund Cars Ltd transferred ownership of more than £1 million worth of cars without the owner’s permission. The company was run by Andrew Mearns and dissolved in June 2020.

Cllr Samantha Mearns was a “person with significant control” and company secretary of Gmund Cars Ltd until December 2018. Cllr Mearns remains as an aide to Andrew Jones MP and a councillor for Harrogate Borough Council.

North Yorkshire Police is investigating the allegations and arrested a man in his fifties in July last year. He has not been charged and the force released him under investigation.

The Stray Ferret asked Andrew Jones MP if he had confidence in Cllr Mearns, when he first became aware of the allegations against Gmunds Cars Ltd and whether he had any comments to make on the investigation into Gmund Cars Ltd. Mr Jones has not responded. Harrogate Borough Council told the Stray Ferret that it will take the questions surrounding its confidence in Cllr Mearns and her involvement in Gmund Cars Ltd further.

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We do know that both the council and Andrew Jones MP have received complaints about Cllr Mearns in relation to Gmund Cars Ltd.

The Stray Ferret has seen emails of a complaint put into both Andrew Jones and Harrogate Borough Council about Cllr Mearns and Gmund Cars Ltd. The complaint was made in the spring of last year.

Anthony Place wrote to Mr Jones and told him that Gmund Cars Ltd had transferred ownership of his car without his permission in March 2019  and questioned the “integrity and business practices” of Cllr Mearns.

Andrew Jones MP responded in May 2019 to say he had a conflict of interest and directed Mr Place to his own MP. Mr Jones also pointed Mr Place towards the council’s complaints procedure.

The email in May 2019 response Andrew Jones MP sent to Anthony Place.

 

Harrogate Borough Council’s head of legal and governance responded to Mr Place in June 2019. Jennifer Norton said that the council would not take the complaint further because Cllr Mearns was not acting in her public office duties at the time.

For more on Harrogate Borough Council’s response to Anthony Place’s complaint Read here.

How Harrogate Borough Council responded to a complaint around Cllr Mearns and Gmund Cars

When Anthony Place put his complaint into Harrogate Borough Council, it went to the authority’s monitoring officer, Jennifer Norton, who assessed whether it was something the council would investigate further. 

For councils across the country, including Harrogate Borough Council, the monitoring officer is bound by the code of conduct when it comes to dealing with complaints and its ability to take action against councillors.  

What happened in the case of Cllr Samantha Mearns?

In the case of Cllr Samantha Mearns and the complaint from Anthony Place in June 2019, the borough council felt the councillor was “not engaged in council business” so the rules of the code of conduct did not apply.

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Later that month, the council responded to the complaint regarding Cllr Mearns and said: 

“On this occasion, your complaint is in the context of the alleged misappropriation of customers goods/money by a company in which Samantha Mearns and her husband were directly involved.  

“Samantha Mearns was not engaged on council business when carrying out any activities associated with the company.  

“For this reason, it would not be appropriate for me to refer the matter for investigation under the council’s code of conduct.” 

The council then did not take any further action to investigate the complaint.

It was a similar situation with the case of Ernest Butler

More recently, the Stray Ferret reported on parish Cllr Ernest Butler after racial comments he made on social media regarding a white lives matter protest.

A complaint was made to the borough council about his post, but again said it could not take action. The authority again said the councillor should be engaged in business directly related to the council or constituents for it to breach its code. 

However, these cases do not necessarily always leave the complainant feeling satisfied. 

In the case of Mr Place, he told the Stray Ferret: 

“For the life of me, I cannot see how someone conducts themselves in their private life isn’t relevant to how they conduct themselves in public office.” 

Exclusive: Harrogate MP aide and councillor at centre of £1 million Porsche investigation

The Stray Ferret can reveal that a councillor in the Harrogate district and case worker for Andrew Jones MP is at the centre of a police investigation into missing Porsches where victims lost out on a total of more than £1 million.

Gmund Cars Ltd, which was based at the Nidd Valley Business Park, has since gone into dissolution. Andrew Mearns was the owner. Conservative Cllr Samantha Mearns had “significant control” which she gave up in December 2018.

The company started in 2006 and built up a strong reputation as a place which bought and sold classic Porsche cars. The six alleged victims the Stray Ferret spoke to said it started to unravel in 2018.

Andrew Jones MP endorsed the shop as an “amazing business” on December 1, 2018 at the time when Gmund Cars Ltd allegedly started to transfer ownership of cars without the owners’ permission. There is no suggestion that Andrew Jones MP was aware of the allegations when the above picture was taken. Mrs Mearns remains as his case officer.

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The administrator’s report from June 2020 found more than £1 million in claims stacked up against the business with only £15,000 in assets.

North Yorkshire Police is investigating the allegations and arrested a man in his fifties in July last year. He has not been charged and the force released him under investigation.

The Stray Ferret has spoken to six alleged Gmund Cars Ltd victims. Some said they lost out on medical treatment, time away from work to see terminally ill parents or their entire pension pot as a result of not receiving money from the sale of their cars.

Six alleged Gmund Cars Ltd victims speak out

Matt Saphier believes that he is the earliest victim. He took his Porsche 911 valued at more than £80,000 to Gmund Cars Ltd back in May 2017.

After many months of waiting, Mr Saphier received a DVLA notice to say that his car had changed ownership in November 2018. He claims he did not give permission for the sale and Gmund Cars Ltd never sent him the money. Mrs Mearns still held her position of “significant control” in the company in that period.

Anthony Place also claims he lost out on more than £52,000. He took his Porsche 924 Carrera GT to Gmund Cars in August 2018 to be sold on a ‘Sale Or Return’ basis.

Anthony Place’s simple message: Where’s my money?

The DVLA sent Mr Place a notice in March 2019 to say his car had changed ownership but he also never received any money from the sale. After a couple months of pestering Mr Place lost his patience.

Mr Place decided to head down to Gmund Cars Ltd for an open day where more than 200 people were in attendance. He printed t-shirts, painted on the side of one of his other cars and even paid for a plane to carry a banner. The message was simple: “Where’s my £52,495 Gmund?”

He told the Stray Ferret:

“I personally feel quite battered and bruised by this. I may be able to bounce back from this loss and some of the other victims were left devastated. This car sale was supposed to fund my time off work. My plan was to go part time so I could spend some time with my terminally ill parents.”

All alleged six victims were critical of the police’s handling of the case and urged the force not to drop its investigation.

The Stray Ferret has approached both Samantha Mearns and Andrew Jones MP for a comment. Andrew Jones MP did not reply by the time of publication.

Samantha Mearns told the Stray Ferret:

“I was a shareholder in my husband’s business until December 2018.  When the business was put into administration in June 2019, allegations were made which resulted in a police investigation.  As far as I am aware the investigation has concluded with no further action being taken.  I was never interviewed in relation to any of the allegations.”