I had to speak, says ex-aide as he testifies against MP who ‘lied over speed ticket’

The former aide of a Labour MP who stands accused of lying to dodge a speeding ticket came forward to testify because he “could not remain silent”, a court heard today.

Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya denies plotting with her brother to dodge prosecution by blaming a man who was more than 1,500 miles away in Russia.

Her trial began on Monday but was paused after Onasanya’s former communications manager, Dr Christian DeFeo, came forward to say he saw the MP driving on the evening of the alleged offence. Today the academic told the Old Bailey he was giving evidence “with reluctance” but felt obliged to do so.

Dr DeFeo told jurors his wife spotted an online press report about the trial in the Peterborough Telegraph. “Upon looking at the article, it was stated not only the date of the offence but also that it took place where we live,” he said.

“We talked very, very briefly about whether we should volunteer information to the police ... I said we have no choice, we have to say what we know.

"I worked for Miss Onasanya, I have had enormous hopes invested in her. I never dreamed in my darkest dreams I would have to be sitting here. It is with the greatest reluctance that I have had to do this, but to do otherwise I can’t, it’s morally and legally unacceptable.”

Prosecutor David Jeremy QC has told the jury Onasanya’s Nissan Micra was caught doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in Thorney, near Peterborough, at 10.03pm on July 24 last year.

It is said that when sent the notice of intended prosecution, she ticked the box saying she was not driving, giving the name of a man called Aleks Antipow. Prosecutors allege Mr Antipow — the previous tenant of a property Onasanya and her brother had rented in Cambridge — was in fact at home with his parents in Russia that night.

Today Dr DeFeo said he was the communications manager for Onasanya’s general election campaign last year, helping her win the Peterborough seat. He told the court Onasanya, 34, came to their home in Thorney on July 24 that year as she was helping them, in her capacity as a property lawyer, to obtain a lease for a charity they run.

He said: “She pulled up her car in front of our house, I greeted her at the door.” Asked how he knew she was alone, he added: “I could see into her car and I could see no one else.”

He said the MP left alone: “I saw her get into her car, I was certainly at the threshold at the very least, then she ... drove off.” Onasanya had now fallen out with his wife over the cancellation of an event to celebrate 100 years of Labour in Peterborough, he added.

The MP, of Peterborough, denies one charge of perverting the course of justice. Her brother Festus, 33, of Cambridge, has admitted three charges of the same offence relating to this ticket and two others issued in June and August last year. The trial continues.