The disgraced former Labour, now Independent MP for Peterborough, Fiona Onasanya, has been sentenced to three months imprisonment for perverting the course of justice.
Onasanya was found guilty of the offence by a retrial jury on 19th December 2018. You can read a lot more about her journey through the court system in our earlier articles (here, here and here for starters).
Her younger brother Festus Onasanya, who pleaded guilty to three similar charges prior to trial, was sentenced to ten months imprisonment.
Mr 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."
Christine Agnew QC, counsel for Onasanya, said the case had had a disastrous impact upon her client's life. "She continues to stand as an independent MP and her only reason for that is because it is her only source of income," she said.
Presumably it's for that reason that Onasanya is now planning to cling on as an MP. She will continue to draw a monthly Parliamentary salary of £6,500 until the outcome of her appeal hearing. That could be towards the end of the year.
Both the main political parties have called on Onasanya to do the "decent thing" by resigning and triggering a by-election, but it appears that she's simply not hard-wired that way.
I must say that I am slightly surprised at the apparent leniency of the sentence, but am sure His Lordship had sound rationale behind his decision.
Update (5/3/19): Onasanya has been refused permission to appeal her conviction.
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