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MP Fiona Onasanya trial: MP 'overwhelmed by emails', court hears MP Fiona Onasanya trial: MP 'suffering from incurable illness'
(35 minutes later)
A Labour MP accused of plotting to avoid a speeding prosecution said she was overwhelmed by "thousands" of emails when she first started her job. A Labour MP has told how she battled the effects of an incurable illness while facing a speeding prosecution and adjusting to life as a new MP.
Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya claimed a Russian man was behind the wheel when her car was clocked doing 41mph in a 30mph zone, the Old Bailey has heard. Fiona Onasanya, 35, is accused of using "dishonest means" to dodge a prosecution for driving 41mph in a 30mph zone, a week after being elected.
Giving evidence, Ms Onasanya said the "leap" into Westminster politics was "a bit like a freshers' fair". She denies one charge of perverting the course of justice.
The 35-year-old denies one count of perverting the course of justice. At the Old Bailey she denied claiming that a Russian man was behind the wheel at the time her car was seen speeding.
The trained solicitor, who had been elected in Peterborough about a month before the incident in July last year, discussed her hectic rise through politics, joining a select committee four weeks after the general election. The prosecution has claimed Ms Onasanya and her brother Festus Onasanya "acted jointly in telling lies" to claim she was not driving her Nissan Micra when it was clocked by a speed camera in July 2017, a week after she was elected as an MP.
"It was massive. It was more a leap than a step. I didn't have an expectation because I did not have any idea what it would be like," said Ms Onasanya. Giving evidence, Ms Onasanya told jurors that after her election she was thrown in "the ocean" and expected to swim in her new job at Parliament, working in a corridor and being faced with thousands of emails.
"It was a little bit like being asked if you can swim and you say 'Yes, I can get by, I can swim', and then you get thrown in the ocean, it's not comparable." She spent Monday to Thursday at Westminster, leaving her car in Cambridge, allowing her mother Paulina Scott, her brother and others to borrow it while she was away.
The court heard that in July last year she had about 5,000 unanswered emails in her inbox. When a notice of intended prosecution (Nip) arrived in the post, she said she "assumed" she was not driving that Monday because of her Westminster commitments, even though Parliament was in recess.
The MP, who was later promoted to the shadow whips office, also said, that at the time of the incident, she was unaware that her brother had nine points on his licence and had previously been disqualified for drink-driving. She left the letter at her mother's house for whoever had been driving her car to deal with, not realising it was her responsibility as keeper of the vehicle, she said.
The court has heard Ms Onasanya was sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) after her car was clocked in Thorney, near Peterborough, at 22:03 BST on 24 July. Christine Agnew QC, defending, asked: "Was it your intention that Festus should use his dishonest means to help you out?"
She returned the paperwork naming the driver as Aleks Antipow, a previous tenant of a property the siblings rented out in Cambridge. "Absolutely not," the MP replied.
The jury heard Mr Antipow was in Russia at the time and had never driven the MP's car. 'Multiple sclerosis relapse'
On 5 November, Mr Onasanya, 33, of Chesterton, Cambridge, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to three counts of perverting the course of justice. Her 33-year-old brother has admitted three charges of perverting the course of justice, including one relating to the incident in The Causeway, near Thorney, at 10:03 BST on 24 July last year.
The trial continues. Ms Onasanya told the court that more than a year after the incident she found she had an engagement at Paston Farm community centre in Peterborough that day.
She said she believed her brother had been sorting the Nip.
The MP told jurors she suffered a relapse of multiple sclerosis in September last year.
The politician also denied she returned the Nip which named the driver of her car as Aleks Antipow.
Mr Antipow was found to be at home with his parents in Russia at the time.
He previously lived in Chesterton, Cambridge, at a house rented by Ms Onasanya and her brother, the court heard.
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.