PA MediaMP Mike Amesbury has admitted assault by beating after a video emerged showing him punching a man to the ground in his Cheshire constituency.
Amesbury, who represents Runcorn and Helsby, pleaded guilty to assaulting the 45-year-old Paul Fellows at Chester Magistrates’ Court.
He had been suspended from the Labour Party after the footage appeared of the fracas, which occurred in Frodsham, Cheshire, at 02:45 GMT on 26 October last year.
The video, which did not show the lead up to the altercation, recorded Amesbury shouting: “You won’t threaten the MP ever again, will you?”
Alison Storey, prosecuting, told the court how, at about 02:00, Mr Fellows was in Frodsham town centre and went to a taxi rank.
He was alone and had been drinking, she said.
Ms Storey said: “Mr Amesbury arrived at the same taxi rank. He too was alone and he too had been drinking.”
The court heard Mr Fellows recognised Amesbury and approached him to remonstrate about a bridge closure in the town.
She said CCTV showed an engagement between them over a period of several minutes, but with no aggression or raised voices.
She said: “At one point Mr Fellows started to walk away but was re-engaged by Mr Amesbury.”
Amesbury, 55, was then heard to say “what” a few times before shouting it, the court heard.
Ms Storey said Mr Fellows put his hands in his pockets and turned towards the taxi queue but, when he turned back, Amesbury punched him to the head, knocking him to the ground.
He followed him on to the road after he fell and started to punch him again at least five times, she said.
Amesbury, who now sits as an independent MP, won his seat at the general election in July with a majority of 14,696.
He had served under Labour since 2017 and was a shadow minister between 2018 and 2024. He was previously a local councillor in Manchester.
District Judge Tanveer Ikram said the guidelines suggested 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,” he said.
“I am leaving all options upon at this stage.”
‘Shocking’
Amesbury was granted bail to return for sentencing on 24 February.
Asked if he had any comment following the hearing, the MP said he wanted to apologise to Mr Fellows.
He told reporters: “It’s highly regrettable, the incident in October.
“I’m sincerely sorry to Mr Fellows and his family.”
Amesbury’s defence solicitor said the incident was “regrettable and unfortunate”.
He said the public were not aware of the lengths of security and threats MPs face every day.
He mentioned how a man was previously convicted of stalking Amesbury and how, last November, he had received a death threat to his office.
He also said there were comments made that, rightly or wrongly, the MP had “taken as some form of threat to himself”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously described the video footage as “shocking” and said Labour had “moved very swiftly” to respond.
Following the guilty plea, a party spokesman 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.
“We cannot comment further whilst legal proceedings are still ongoing.”
Amesbury would need to receive a prison sentence – including a suspended sentence – in order for there to be a recall petition in his seat of Runcorn and Helsby.
That recall petition would then need more than 10 per cent of voters in his constituency to sign it to trigger a by-election.
A recall petition would also be triggered if the House of Commons decided to suspend him for 10 sitting days or more. If he were to resign, that would also lead to a by-election.