Fiona Onasanya

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Fiona Onasanya, a solicitor and MP, was convicted at the Central Criminal Court of perverting the course of justice after providing false information to police about the identity of the driver in a speeding matter. The SDT found the conviction proved via the certificate of conviction and found breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6, plus an express finding of dishonesty applying the Ivey test. The Tribunal held the misconduct was at the highest level with no exceptional circumstances justifying a lesser sanction, and ordered she be struck off the Roll and pay costs of £6,562.50 (reduced from the £22,762.50 claimed).

Duties found breached:

• No abuse of process or coercive powers
• Honesty
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Deliberate conduct
• Multiple opportunities to correct the dishonest representation - not a momentary lapse
• Respondent was in the public eye and status as solicitor known, impacting reputation of profession
• Potential for an innocent third party to face prosecution

Mitigating factors:

• Voluntarily notified the SRA and cooperated throughout
• Single episode in an otherwise unblemished career
• No monetary gain
• Not over a lengthy period
• Disastrous personal and professional consequences
• Involvement of Respondent's brother in underlying facts