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The MP for Runcorn and Helsby, Mike Amesbury, has pleaded guilty to assault.
Appearing at Chester magistrates court, Amesbury, who was suspended by the Labour party after an investigation, admitted the single charge of section 39 assault in relation to an incident after a night out in his constituency.
Police interviewed Amesbury, 55, after footage of the incident, which took place on Main Street in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of 26 October last year, was published by MailOnline.
The video, taken from a CCTV camera, shows Amesbury hitting his victim, 45-year-old Paul Fellows, in the face, knocking him to the ground.
He is also seen standing over the man, hitting him several more times on the head and shouting: “You won’t threaten me again, will you?”
Amesbury said in a statement at the time that he had reported himself to police. “I felt threatened on the street following an evening with friends,” he said.
He later described the incident as “deeply regrettable” in a second statement made after he was summonsed to appear in court.
Alison Storey, prosecuting, told the court that Fellows, who was alone and had been drinking, went to a taxi rank in Frodsham town centre.
She said: “Mr Amesbury arrived at the same taxi rank. He too was alone and he too had been drinking.”
The court heard Fellows recognised the MP and approached him to remonstrate about a bridge closure in the town, with CCTV showing them in discussion for several minutes, but with no aggression or raised voices.
“At one point Mr Fellows started to walk away but was re-engaged by Mr Amesbury,” she told the court, adding that Amesbury was heard to say “what” a few times before shouting the word.
The prosecutor said Fellows put his hands in his pockets and turned towards the taxi queue, but when he turned back Amesbury punched him in the head. After he fell to the ground, Amesbury followed him on to the road and started to punch him again, at least five times, she said.
Storey told the court he was then heard saying “you won’t threaten your MP again will you”.
Defending Amesbury, Richard Derby said the assault was a “momentary incident”.
He told the court: “Rightly or wrongly, Mr Amesbury interpreted what was being said as no longer a conversation but something to which he thought there was another motive to.”
Derby said a death threat had been sent to Amesbury’s office in November, and set out security measures he had in place.
“Whatever sanction this court will impose upon him, it’s not going to have the effect as what has already happened to him,” he said.“The embarrassment he has suffered, the shame he has suffered, removing the whip from him, a person who has dedicated his life to the public.”
Amesbury spoke only at the beginning of the hearing, to confirm his name, date of birth, address, and to enter a guilty plea.
“This case is within the high culpability category,” the district judge Tanweer Ikram said. “I accept that the injury was not serious, the sentencing guideline suggests a sentence starting point of a high level community order or a range up to a prison sentence.
“I have already made mention of the fact whilst there was a single punch to the face, the victim ended up on the floor and he was further attacked again on the floor. That seems to me an additional aggravating factor.
“I hear all said on the defendant’s behalf and I will no doubt hear that again once I have read what the pre-sentence report suggests as workable options in terms of the range of sentence available to the court.”
Ikram adjourned the case to 24 February and asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared. He told Amesbury: “I am leaving all options open at this stage.”
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Speaking to reporters outside the court, Amesbury apologised to his victim, saying: “I am sincerely sorry to Mr Fellows and his family.”
Amesbury, who has resisted calls to resign, was a shadow minister for housing and local government, and sits on two parliamentary committees.
He lost the Labour whip and was suspended by the party soon after the clip was published. It is understood that the Labour whip will not be returned.
Amesbury was re-elected in July with a majority of 14,696, almost 35% of the vote. He had previously represented Weaver Vale, which ceased to exist after boundary changes. He had won the seat from the Conservatives when he was first elected in 2017 with a majority of 3,928.
A recall petition to trigger a byelection can take place if an MP receives a custodial or suspended sentence, or is suspended from the House of Commons for 10 days or more. If an MP is jailed for a year or more, they would automatically lose their seat.
Reform came second in last year’s general election, although significantly behind Labour with 7,662 votes. Nigel Farage’s party has, however, already been distributing campaign material in the seat, hoping to capitalise on any potential byelection.
Amesbury sits in parliament as an independent MP along with seven other Labour MPs who had the whip withdrawn in July for rebelling against the government in a vote on lifting the two-child benefit cap.
A Labour party spokesperson said: “It is right that Mike Amesbury has taken responsibility for his unacceptable actions. He was rightly suspended by the Labour party following the announcement of the police investigation.”
