Fiona Onasanya: Disgraced ex-Labour MP jailed for three months after lying to police about speeding

A recall petition could force a by-election if it is signed by more than 10 per cent of local voters

Fiona Onasanya (right) arrives at the Old Bailey, London for sentencing (PA)

Disgraced former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has been jailed for three months after lying to police to avoid a speeding ticket.

The Peterborough MP, now as an independent, would have been forced to resign her seat if she had been jailed for 12 months or more, triggering a by-election in a key marginal seat.

But a judge imposed a three-month sentence, saying Onasanya had “let down not just yourself but your profession and your parliament”.

The 35-year-old solicitor was clocked going 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough, in July 2017.

The prosecution alleged she went on to collude with her brother Festus to avoid a speeding ticket.

The court was told she was sent a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) to fill out, but it was sent back naming the driver as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of Festus, who was away visiting his parents in Russia.

Following the guilty verdict, Onasanya – who took the marginal seat from the Tories with a majority of 607 at the 2017 general election – was expelled from the Labour party.

Although she cannot be automatically removed from parliament, a recall petition can force a by-election if it is signed by more than 10 per cent of the electorate in the Cambridgeshire seat.

At the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Stuart-Smith jailed Festus Onasanya to 10 months in prison, after he earlier pleaded guilty to three similar charges, including the July incident.

“It is not one law for those in a position of responsibility and power and another for those that are not,” he told the siblings.

“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.”

And he told the MP: “You have not simply let yourself down, you have let down those who look to you for inspiration, your party, your profession and parliament.”

However, he said the case was out of the ordinary because her crime was “totally out of character” and possibly committed out of misplaced loyalty to her brother.

Her life as a new MP in 2017 was “extremely hectic and chaotic” and she had just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when police began to pursue her.

After her brother falsely filled out her NIP, she made the “disastrous decision” to keep up the lie from November 2017, he said.

A Labour party spokesperson urged the MP to “act honourably” and leave the Commons, saying: “When she was found guilty she should have immediately done the decent thing and resigned.

“However, today’s sentence gives Fiona one last opportunity to act honourably and resign from parliament. She should do this without delay and not take another penny in salary from the public purse.

“If Fiona does not resign, Labour will support local residents in their efforts to trigger a by-election through a recall petition.”