Jamie Wallis was banned from driving after he ploughed his Mercedes E-Class into a telegraph pole
A Conservative MP who crashed his car and fled the scene was dressed in high heels and a “black leather mini-skirt”, a court heard on Monday.
Jamie Wallis was disqualified from driving for six months and fined £2,500 after he collided with a telegraph pole in Llanblethian, South Wales.
The collision happened with “such force” that it caused an internet blackout for some locals on Church Road.
Wallis claimed he crashed after swerving to avoid hitting a cat and left the scene because he felt vulnerable in women’s clothing due to a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that he developed after being raped two months earlier.
But Judge Ikran ruled that having PTSD was “not a defence” when convicting Wallis of three traffic offences at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court.
The Conservative MP for Bridgend came out as transgender earlier this year, becoming the first MP to do so. He revealed in the same public statement that he had been raped.
Taking to the stand, Wallis said that, the day before the crash, he was at home “wearing clothes I felt most comfortable in, which I often do when I’m alone, which are women’s clothes”.
Wallis, who has represented Bridgend since 2019, said he was in “pain and shock” after the collision, saying he felt “anxious” about a group of people that were approaching him.
Two local residents said they had heard a “very loud bang, significantly louder than a domestic firework”, and remember seeing amber flashing lights and that a Mercedes E-Class saloon had crashed.
Mr Watson said he looked inside the car and saw “a white male wearing a white long-sleeve top which was tight to the body, a black leather PVC mini-skirt, tights, dark shoes with a high heel and a pearl necklace”.
When he asked Wallis if he was okay, Mr Watson said the MP responded: “I’m sorting it. I’m sorting it.”
Convicting Wallis of the three charges, Judge Ikran said: “I am going to be upfront. I didn’t find the defendant credible in the evidence he gave.
“When I watched him give evidence, it seemed to me he was fitting his own behaviour around the behaviour of PTSD, and his actions on the night do not suggest he was overwhelmed and acting out of fear.
“Having PTSD is not a defence. What the prosecution have proved to me was that he was able to make decisions that night – he made bad decisions.”
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