LONDON — Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison Monday for punching a man in his local constituency.
Amesbury, who has been an MP since 2017 and represents Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England, was given a custodial sentence at Chester Magistrates’ Court after he was caught on camera beating a man in the town of Frodsham, Cheshire on Oct. 26.
Labour suspended Amesbury from the party when CCTV footage obtained by MailOnline showed Amesbury physically attacking 45-year-old Paul Fellows, who fell to the ground before being punched a further five times. Fellows suffered a lump on his head and a graze on his elbow, with Amesbury ordered to pay him £200 compensation alongside his sentence.
Amesbury pleaded guilty last month to assault by beating, saying at the time he was “sincerely sorry to Mr Fellows and his family.”
Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram condemned Amesbury’s actions Monday, telling him: “You continued to attack when he was on the ground and it may have continued further had a bystander not intervened. You continued to rant. Your position ought to be as a role model to others.”
The judge ruled an immediate custodial sentence was “necessary as a punishment and a deterrent.”
Ikram said Amesbury would serve 40 percent of his sentence in custody at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, a Category B prison, and refused his application for bail.
Amesbury’s custodial sentence means voters can now remove him through a recall petition.
This requires 10 percent of all constituents to sign the petition backing his departure — teeing up a by-election that could hand Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party a win in a seat where it came second in last year’s general election.
Reform Chairman Zia Yusuf has already called on Amesbury to resign his seat, stating: “The great people of Runcorn deserve far better than waiting six weeks for a recall petition to take place.”
