Christian MP back in court accused of perverting the course of justice

Fiona Onasanya, MP for Peterborough, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of perverting the course of justice.

At 10.03pm on July 24 last year, her Nissan Micra was allegedly caught by a speed camera doing 41mph in a 30mph zone on The Causeway in the village of Thorney, in Cambridgeshire.

Trained solicitor Onasanya, 35, was sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP), which was sent back naming Aleks Antipow as the driver, jurors heard.

But the court was told he was at home with his parents in Russia at the time.

Prosecutor David Jeremy QC said Onasanya was connected with Mr Antipow through a property that she and her brother, Festus Onasanya, had rented in Chesterton, Cambridge.

Mr Antipow had lived at that address between August and September 2016, jurors were told.

The contact details given for Mr Antipow were not his true address and telephone number, but were connected to the defendant’s brother, the court heard.

Mr Jeremy said: “The purpose in providing the name of a real person as the driver, but providing a false address and telephone number that were connected to Festus Onasanya, was that Mr Antipow, while a real person, would remain untraceable to the police, and so the true driver of Miss Onasanya’s car on the 24th July 2017 would escape prosecution.”

Festus Onasanya had deployed the tactic when his car was caught by a speed camera on June 17 and August 23…