Section:GDN 1N PaGe:14 Edition Date:190807 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 6/8/2019 19:59 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Wednesday 7 August 2019
(^14) National
Jailed former
Labour MP
Onasanya
struck off
as solicitor
Border farce:
100 stops in
seven years
for scientist
PA Media
The former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya
has been struck off as a solicitor for
lying to avoid a speeding conviction.
Onasanya, who worked in commer-
cial property law before her election to
parliament in 2017, was imprisoned
last year for perverting the course of
justice by claiming someone else had
been driving her car.
A number of allegations were found
proven by a misconduct tribunal
Diane Taylor
A university professor has hit out at the
Home Offi ce after being stopped about
100 times in seven years at airports,
despite having no criminal record.
Prof David Baker, a specialist in
neuro immunology at Queen Mary
University of London, who has carried
out pioneering work into treatments
for conditions such as multiple
sclerosis and travels frequently for his
work, was once stopped three times in
a single week by Border Force offi cials
at airports.
Baker, 57, has never been arrested
and, after his fi le has been checked, he
has been belatedly allowed to travel.
His repeated attempts to get an
explanation from the Home Offi ce
about why he is continually stopped
and questioned at airports have failed.
He questioned the safety and
reliability of the Home Offi ce’s security
yesterday, meaning she can no longer
practise as a regulated solicitor.
Edward Nally , the chair of a
three-member panel at the solici-
tors disciplinary tribunal in central
London, said: “As a parliamentar-
ian makes the law, so a solicitor must
uphold the law and the rule of law,
and sadly in this case, Ms Onasanya
has failed in those duties. We must
strike off Ms Onasanya from the roll
of solicitors.”
The tribunal found she had acted
dishonestly, failed to act with integ-
rity and failed to behave in a way that
databases, saying that he is being
confused with one or more individuals
with the same name.
“I started asking questions and got
evasion most times. On a number of
instances I was told it was my name,
and not me,” he said.
“On one occasion I was told that I
have the same name as a drug dealer
and would never get into the UK with-
out being stopped.
“Surely I have a right to know why
I am being stopped ,” he said. “If I am
not the issue, there must be a solution.
A biometric passport must be able to
carry suffi cient information to show
that I am not the criminal they are try-
ing to track.”
Baker has found media reports
relating to four other David Bakers
who have convictions for drugs and/or
violence off ences. None has the same
date of birth or place of birth as him.
He is so frustrated by his frequent
stops that he has been contemplating
changing his name by deed poll.
“This is driving me nuts,” he said.
“The Home Offi ce is not admitting
there is a problem. It’s a pain for any-
one I travel with, too. While they go
through the gates, I am taken aside.”
He has been stopped at airports
even before he reaches the facial-
recognition cameras, so he believes
the fl aw is not with this technology.
His case follows that of Antonio
Heslop , an innocent Jamaican man
whom the Home Offi ce accused of
being a convicted drug dealer and
threatened with deportation.
The Home Offi ce later apologised
to him and said it was a case of mis-
taken identity.
T h e H o m e O ffi ce would not com-
ment specifi cally on whether there
were defi ciencies with the databases
it uses to conduct checks. A spokes-
man said: “Border Force’s priority is to
maintain security on the border at all
times, which is why all those arriving
in the UK are examined and checked
against Home Offi ce databases.”
maintain ed the trust the public place d
in her.
Nally said: “That conviction, we
are aware, has led to disastrous con-
sequences for Ms Onasanya both
personally and professionally.
“As a solicitor, there are profes-
sional consequences that follow from a
proven act of dishonesty that has been
found by a jury after trial.”
Onasanya, a graduate of the Univer-
sity of Hertfordshire , was also ordered
to pay £6,562 to cover the costs of the
prosecution by the Solicitors Regula-
tion Authority.
Onasanya served 28 days of a three-
month prison sentence and continued
to sit as an MP and receive her £77,
salary despite being expelled from
Labour. She lost an appeal against her
conviction in March.
In mitigation, Onasanya told the
panel she was pursuing avenues to
clear her name , adding: “I main-
tain that I did not do an act tending
or intending to pervert the course of
public justice.”
She said that the speeding inci-
dent did not have a “negative eff ect”
on anybody.
Three charged
over London
stabbing death
Diane Taylor
Three men have been charged with the
murder of a 38-year-old man whose
two brothers had previously died in
violent circumstances.
David Bello-Monerville was fatally
stabbed in Welbeck Road, Barnet,
on 18 June. The murder charges are
the latest development in the inves-
tigation by detectives from the
Metropolitan police’s homicide and
major crime command.
The three men who appeared at
Willesden magistrates court yesterday
were Nathan Harewood, 27, of Friern
Barnet, north London; Khalil Rehman,
26, of Barnet; and Francis Appiagyei ,
27, of no fi xed address. All three have
also been charged with two counts of
grievous bodily harm.
Bello-Monerville ’s brother Joseph
Burke-Monerville was shot in 2013,
aged 19, in a case of mistaken identity.
Their eldest brother, Trevor Moner-
ville, was stabbed to death in 1994,
aged 26. No one has been convicted
of either killing.
▲ Prof Baker is so frustrated he says
he may change his name by deed poll
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