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British MP Fiona Onasanya jailed for lying to avoid speeding ticket
Fiona Onasanya, 35, a British member of Parliament expelled from Labour after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice by lying to avoid a speeding ticket was on Tuesday sentenced to three months in jail.
A British member of Parliament expelled from Labour after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice by lying to avoid a speeding ticket was on Tuesday sentenced to three months in jail, triggering a recall petition in her constituency.
Fiona Onasanya, 35, who was elected on a Labour ticket from Peterborough in Cambridgeshire in 2017, currently sits as an independent in the House of Commons. The high court sentenced her to three months and her brother to 10 months in jail.
Justice Stuart-Smith said: “It’s a tragedy that you have found yourselves here and in this predicament, but it’s a tragedy that you have brought on yourselves.”
The jury was told that Onasanya had repeatedly lied after her car was caught by a camera driving at 41mph in a 30mph zone. A solicitor of Nigerian origin, she was also found to be texting and speeding on July 24, 2018.
The judge added: “If she wasn’t an MP and wasn’t in a position of responsibility and power, she would go inside. There is not one rule for those who are in a position of responsibility and power, and another for those who are not.”
However, he added that she was of previous good character: “She went into politics on a principled basis with a strong agenda for social justice.”
Christine Agnew, lawyer for Onasanya, said: “This is not just a fall from grace, it is a very public fall from grace. She will inevitably be struck off as a solicitor. Her life as a politician and her life as a solicitor will come to an end.”
