Reform UK spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe has defended the decision to give Independent MP Mike Amesbury a suspended sentence, saying there is “no reason” for him to be in prison.
Amesbury won his appeal against a 10-week prison sentence for assaulting a constituent, with the jail term now suspended for two years.
“I think the way that Palestine marches are sometimes policed and the way that the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the vandalism statues, I think there was soft justice.
“I do not accept that in this case [of Mike Amesbury]. I think that this is a normal sentence for a first offence, somebody with a previous unblemished character.“
Reform UK spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe defended the choice
GB NEWS
The Runcorn and Helsby MP was initially sentenced and sent straight to jail on Monday at Chester Magistrates’ Court after admitting assault.
Speaking on GB News, Ann Widdecombe said: “I think we do have instances of two-tier justice.
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“And it’s not just the sentence. Obviously he’s going to lose his seat whatever happens,
“He’s also got these other really quite humiliating things that he’s got to do this unpaid work.
“He has not walked away though, he’s got a suspended sentence and he’s got community work.
“He’s got an alcohol rehabilitation requirement. He has not walked free.
Mike Amesbury has been handed a suspended sentence
PA
“And I’m telling you this as a former Home Office minister. There is virtually nobody in the whole country who has done that for the first time, with an unblemished record before that, who would be actually in prison.
“A suspended sentence in these circumstances is normal. If you’re going to [send people to prison] for that, you’re going to find that this government will simply release more prisoners, probably more violent ones than this, in order to make up the space.
“This is just a normal sentence. I think that what happened with the summer riots was very straightforward. There was, there had been, as there has been many years ago over football hooliganism, that deterrent sentences were necessary to stop copycat action. I think that was what was behind it.
“But as I say to you, you know, there is no reason for Mike Amesbury, just because he’s in the public eye, to be punished more severely than anybody else would be in those circumstances.
“You go out and find me somebody else who’s been sent to prison in those circumstances.
“The fact is that if somebody is heavily under the influence of drink or drugs, they won’t just think to themselves all logically, ‘oh, I can punch somebody in the face. They won’t think that and just do it.”
After a hearing at Chester Crown Court on Thursday, the judge ruled his jail time should be suspended.
This means the 55-year-old MP will not be imprisoned unless he commits further crimes within the two-year period.