The North of Tyne mayor has now spoken out to “totally condemn” the actions of a disgraced ex-councillor jailed for stalking.

Jamie Driscoll issued a statement on Monday lunchtime about Dipu Ahad, a former Newcastle Labour colleague who was sentenced to 14 months in prison last week.

Ahad, who represented the Elswick ward in Newcastle’s West End for 13 years, pleaded guilty to stalking in February and a court heard last week how he had used his position to appear as a “knight in shining armour” trying to help a woman who was a stalking victim, when he was in fact the stalker.

In a Facebook post on Monday lunchtime, Mr Driscoll said that Ahad had “behaved in an extremely abusive way” and that the “criminal justice system has served retribution”.

It comes after the mayor did not sign a Newcastle Labour statement issued last Friday evening, in which more than 60 elected representatives and candidates in the city said that they “place on record our solidarity and support for his victim and condemn unconditionally the callous actions of Dipu Ahad”.

Four city councillors also did not put their names to the statement – Ann Schofield, Lara Ellis, Shumel Rahman, and Rebecca Shatwell.

In his social media post on Monday, Mr Driscoll claimed that his name was absent because he had missed a 5pm deadline to respond as he had been in back-to-back meetings – and that he “did not ‘refuse’ to sign anything”.

A North of Tyne Combined Authority spokesperson had told the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Friday evening that Mr Driscoll had been asked to sign it but declined and would not be commenting further.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Monday, Mr Driscoll clarified that he does support the Newcastle Labour statement, which was signed by two city MPs and Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness.

The Labour mayor, who was a Newcastle councillor prior to his victory in the North of Tyne race in 2019, wrote on his Facebook page: “I totally condemn Dipu Ahad’s crime of aggravated stalking.  It must have been truly awful to have been the victim of this harassment.  It’s compounded by his posing as her rescuer while being the abuser.  My thoughts are with the victim.  And please, let’s be very careful to protect her anonymity. 

“I have not followed the case, and only know those details that have been reported in the press in the last couple of days. The evidence shows he behaved in an extremely abusive way, there was an investigation, he was charged, he pleaded guilty, and now he is in prison.  This time, at least, the criminal justice system has served retribution for a crime against women. Far too often it fails.

“As a society, we also fail to properly support victims of abuse.  There are some fantastic voluntary and charitable organisations working to support survivors, but they are underfunded and inadequately resourced.  It might be of interest to know that I proposed that the North of Tyne fund a programme for victims of domestic abuse through lockdown.  

“Initially there was question about whether North of Tyne could be involved in this kind of work.  It is true that we have no statutory role in providing support for victims of domestic abuse.  But it’s an issue that’s so important to me (see below), I wanted to push it.  Thankfully, after discussions, my whole cabinet are supportive. 

“My officers have worked closely with the local authorities and VCSE organisations to develop a programme to provide economic support for victims of domestic abuse to develop the financial independence to escape abusive relationships.  We’ve taken particular care to listen to the survivors to get their input into designing the programme.”

Mr Driscoll added that he was “using my position to support women who are being abused” and had been inspired by his mother, a former chair of Middlesbrough Women’s Refuge.