MP Mike Amesbury admits punching constituent then telling him ‘you won’t threaten your MP again, you f****** soft lad’ The Fighting MP, Pleads Guilty, to Assault.

LABOUR MP Mike Amesbury has pleaded guilty to assault after he punched a constituent FIVE times in a late-night brawl.

The Runcorn and Helsby MP lashed out at Paul Fellows then told him: “You won’t threaten your MP again will you, you f***ing soft lad”.

The MP for Runcorn and Helsby, Mike Amesbury, has pleaded guilty to assault.

Appearing at Chester magistrates court, Amesbury, who was suspended by the Labour party after an investigation, admitted the single charge of section 39 assault in relation to an incident after a night out in his constituency.

Police interviewed Amesbury, 55, after footage of the incident, which took place on Main Street in Frodsham in the early hours of 26 October last year, was published by MailOnline.The video, taken from a CCTV camera, shows Amesbury hitting his victim, 45-year-old Paul Fellows, in the face, knocking him to the ground.

He is also seen standing over the man, hitting him several more times on the head and shouting: “You won’t threaten me again, will you?”

Amesbury said in a statement at the time that he had reported himself to police. “I felt threatened on the street following an evening with friends,” he said.

He later described the incident as “deeply regrettable” in a second statement made after he was summonsed to appear in court.

Alison Storey, prosecuting, told the court that Fellows, who was alone and had been drinking, went to a taxi rank in Frodsham town centre.

“Mr Amesbury arrived at the same taxi rank,” she said. “He too was alone and he too had been drinking.”

The court heard Fellows recognised the MP and approached him to remonstrate about a bridge closure in the town, with CCTV showing them in discussion for several minutes, but with no aggression or raised voices.

“At one point Mr Fellows started to walk away but was re-engaged by Mr Amesbury,” she told the court, adding that Amesbury was heard to say “what” a few times before shouting the word.

The prosecutor said Fellows put his hands in his pockets and turned towards the taxi queue, but when he turned back Amesbury punched him in the head.

After he fell to the ground, Amesbury followed him on to the road and started to punch him again, at least five times, she said.“I hear all said on the defendant’s behalf and I will no doubt hear that again once I have read what the pre-sentence report suggests as workable options in terms of the range of sentence available to the court.”

He adjourned the case to 24 February and asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

He told Amesbury: “I am leaving all options open at this stage.”