Ex-Labour MP Fiona Onasanya released from prison after a month

Former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has been allowed to leave prison after serving a month of her three-month sentence for lying about a speeding charge.

The Peterborough MP, who was expelled by Labour after being convicted, was released from HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, on Tuesday morning.

The disgraced politician was photographed sat in the back of a white Vauxhall as she left the prison.

It comes after the attorney general’s office rejected a complaint that Onasanya’s sentence was too lenient.

The 35-year-old has vowed to continue to sit in the House of Commons as an independent MP, despite calls for her to resign.

She is appealing against her conviction.

By receiving a jail sentence of less than 12 months, Onasanya avoided being automatically removed as an MP under parliamentary rules.

However, she could be forced out if more than 10% of voters in her constituency sign a recall petition, which would trigger a by-election in her Peterborough seat.

Onasanya was sentenced on 29 January after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

A judge told her she had “let down not just yourself but your profession and your parliament”.

Jurors at her Old Bailey trial heard she colluded with her brother Festus after her car was recorded doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in Thorney, a village near Peterborough, in July 2017 – just weeks after she was elected to parliament.

The court heard that a Notice of Intended Prosecution was sent back naming the driver of the vehicle as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of her brother, who was in Russia visiting his parents at the time.

Festus Onasanya was given a jail sentence of 10 months after he pleaded guilty to three counts of perverting the course of justice over speeding, including the 24 July incident.

(c) Sky News 2019: Ex-Labour MP Fiona Onasanya released from prison after a month