U.K. MP avoids jail term for punching man

British lawmaker Mike Amesbury arrives at Chester Ellesmere Port and Neston Magistrates' Court, where he is charged with assault, Thursday Jan. 16, 2025. (Ian Cooper/PA via AP, File) (Ian Cooper/AP)

A U.K. lawmaker jailed for assaulting a man -- potentially triggering an election test for Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer -- on Thursday won an appeal against his custodial sentence.

MP Mike Amesbury, 55, was jailed for 10 weeks on Monday for a late-night altercation with a man who complained to him about a bridge closure.

But a higher court on Thursday overruled the original sentence.

Instead the jail term will be suspended for two years, meaning he will only serve further time in custody if he reoffends within the two-year period.

He will also have to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undergo alcohol monitoring and attend an anger management course.

Amesbury was suspended by the Labour Party after a video clip of the October assault was published on the Mail Online news website. He has since sat in parliament as an independent.

Starmer described the footage as “shocking” and said his party had moved “very swiftly” to suspend the lawmaker.

Arriving for the appeal hearing at Chester Crown Court in northwest England, Amesbury was led from a prison van in handcuffs.

The lawmaker last month admitted assaulting 45-year-old Paul Fellows in the town of Frodsham, southeast of Liverpool, in the middle of the night on October 26.

Because the sentence was for less than 12 months, Amesbury did not automatically lose his Runcorn and Helsby seat in northwest England.

The politician could still risk losing his seat if his constituents back a petition calling for a by-election.

Agence France-Presse