Suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury has been jailed for 10 weeks for punching a man following a row in the street, and taunting “you won’t threaten your MP again will you?”. The Runcorn and Helsby MP, who has been sitting as an independent since he was suspended following his arrest in October last year, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to assaulting 45-year-old Paul Fellows.
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The incident occurred in Main Street in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of October 26, after Amesbury had been drinking. Upon arriving at a taxi rank, he was approached by Mr Fellows who began to remonstrate about a bridge closure in the town. Footage showed Amesbury punch Mr Fellows to the head, knocking him to the ground, then follow him onto the road and start to punch him again, at least five times.
Speaking outside court after entering his guilty plea, Amesbury said: “I’m sincerely sorry to Mr Fellows and his family.”. The politician was warned during his last court appearance that all sentencing options would be considered, ranging from a community order to a prison sentence.
Sentencing him, deputy senior district judge Tan Ikram said: “In this case an immediate custodial sentence is, in my judgment, necessary as a punishment and a deterrent.”. Mr Amesbury was taken down by two dock officers. Alison Storey, senior specialist prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service's special crime division, said: "This was a persistent assault by Mike Amesbury which continued while the victim was on the floor, offering no aggression.
"The victim was alone and not part of a group and CCTV footage showed that he was not being threatening or aggressive towards Mike Amesbury. "After the initial punch which knocked the victim to the ground, Mike Amesbury struck the victim at least a further five times while he was on the floor.
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