One of Jeremy Corbyn’s key allies who is accused of lying to dodge a speeding prosecution is facing a retrial after a jury was deadlocked in her perverting the course of justice case.
Labour whip Fiona Onasanya, 34, is accused of trying to deceive police by claiming a Russian man was driving her Nissan Micra when it was caught on a speed camera in her Peterborough constituency last July.
It is said she plotted with her younger brother, Festus, 33, to dodge the speeding ticket, and is accused of telling repeated lies to cover up the truth.
However, Ms Onasanya told the Old Bailey she was busy with a chaotic start to her life as an MP to deal with the speeding papers, passing them to her mother and brother to sort out.
She told the court she made a "simple mistake" by wrongly believing she had been in London on the day of the offence, only discovering a year later that Parliament had in fact been in recess.
At the end of a two week trial, the jury today said they could not receive a unanimous or majority verdict in Onasanya's case after deliberating for two-and-a-half days.
Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said the MP will now face a retrial "in due course", expected to be within the next two months.
Onsanya, who received support during the trial from Labour’s chief whip Nick Brown MP, will remain on bail until the new trial begins.
She denies perverting the course of justice.
Her bother Festus Onasanya has pleaded guilty to three charges of perverting the course of justice and will be sentenced at a later date.
