Labour MP’s brother admits lying to police about speeding offences
THE BROTHER of a Labour MP has admitted perverting the course of justice by lying to police about who was driving a speeding car.
Singer Festus Onasanya admitted three counts of perverting the course of justice, a week before he was due to face trial with Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya.
Ms Onasanya, 34, and her 33-year-old brother were jointly accused of misinforming Cambridgeshire Police about who was responsible for driving a speeding vehicle on July 24 2017.
It was alleged they named a man called Aleks Antipow as being behind the wheel to avoid prosecution.
The MP’s brother, who lives with his mother in Chesterton, Cambridge, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in relation to the incident.
He also pleaded guilty to two further charges of perverting the course of justice, which involved blaming someone else for two separate speeding incidents on June 17 and August 23 last year.
The singer, who is on a tour of the Midlands and Scotland with his band, was bailed by Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC at the Old Bailey.
The defendant is due to be sentenced at the conclusion of his sister’s trial.
Ms Onasanya, who was a solicitor before her election to Parliament, is a Labour whip, meaning she is responsible for party discipline.
She has denied perverting the course of justice and faces trial at the Old Bailey on November 12.
Fiona Onasanya was elected as MP for Peterborough in 2017.
Of Nigerian ancestry, she studied law at the University of Hertfordshire before becoming a solicitor in November 2015.
She was elected as a Labour Cambridgeshire County Councillor for King’s Hedges in Cambridge in 2013 and deputy leader of the Labour group on the council. She was also the local party’s spokeswoman for children and young people and she unsuccessfully sought the nomination to be candidate for Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.