Labour MP Fiona Onasanya arrived at the Old Bailey today to face perverting the course of justice charges for ‘blaming a third party for speeding offences’
Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has arrived at the Old Bailey today to face perverting the course of justice charges for ‘blaming a third party for speeding offences’.
The Peterborough MP, who won the key marginal seat in 2017, was seen smiling as she walked into the London court room for a plea hearing.
The politician was charged last month with two counts of perverting the course of justice after allegedly lying to police about who was behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle in two separate incidents in Cambridgeshire last year.
Prosecutors say Ms Onasanya conspired with her younger brother Festus to avoid penalty points, once when she was driving and once when he was behind the wheel, and passed them to a third party.
She is alleged to have been behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle on July 24 last year but together with her brother Festus Onasanya told the authorities someone else was driving.
The second similar count relates to an incident on August 23 when her brother was alleged to have been driving but she told authorities that a third party had been driving.
Court records show the CPS say that ‘together with Festus Onasanya’ she ‘falsely informed the investigating authorities that Aleks Antipow had been the driver of the said vehicle…to avoid such prosecution and punishment.’
Ms Onasanya, who is an ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, denies the allegations.

The politician was charged last month with two counts of perverting the course of justice after allegedly lying to police about who was behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle in two separate incidents in Cambridgeshire last year
The offence of perverting the course of justice carries a maximum penalty of life in jail.
Cambridgeshire Police confirmed to MailOnline at the time the alleged offence took place in its in area.
The case echoes that of ex-Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne.
Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce were both jailed for eight months each in 2013 for perverting the course of justice after she took speeding points for the former Liberal Democrat MP.
But they both only served two months of their sentences.

Ms Onasanya, who is an ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, denies the allegations
Ms Onasanya is a member of Mr Corbyn’s frontbench team, serving as a Labour whip, meaning she is responsible for party discipline.
She won the Peterborough seat – one of Labour’s most marginal seats – with a majority of just 607 votes, ousting Tory Stewart Jackson in the election last year.
The former Conservative MP went on to be chief of staff to David Davis while he was Brexit Secretary but left Whitehall following his boss’s shock resignation.
The Peterborough seat is in England’s Brexit heartlands and was a crucial swing seat at the June 2017 poll, symbolising the Labour surge that destroyed Theresa May’s majority.
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