Scottish MP who took train with covid sentenced to 270 hours community service

13 September 2022, 12:09 | Updated: 13 September 2022, 13:43

Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier, who admitted to travelling on a train from London to Scotland knowing she had Covid-19 has been sentenced to 270 hours of unpaid work.

The MP escaped jail after admitting culpably and recklessly exposing the public "to the risk of infection, illness and death" after travelling in and around Glasgow and to London in September 2020 after taking a test for coronavirus.

While awaiting the results, the former SNP MP who is now independent MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West spoke in the Houses of Parliament and visited places in London.

Ferrier could have faced a possible jail-term as she returned to the dock but Sheriff Principal Craig Turnbull ordered her to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work within a nine-month period. The term was cut from 300 hours due to her guilty plea.

Sheriff Turnbull told Ferrier: "You wilfully disregarded the guidance and did not self-isolate after your test.'Your behaviour was deliberate and extended over a number of days.

"The gravity of harm that could have resulted from your actions could have been significant."

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The former SNP MP, 62, made the journey from from Glasgow to Westminster and back again while suffering with Covid between September 27 and 29, 2020.

She travelled to the House of Commons while waiting for the results of a coronavirus test - and then made the return journey after being informed she had the virus.

She stayed overnight in a London hotel before travelling back to Glasgow the following day, where she then visited other places such as a mass in the city's St Mungo's church and a bar in Prestwick, Ayrshire.

In a previous hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court Ms Ferrier, an independent MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, admitted wilfully exposing people 'to the risk of infection, illness and death' by visiting various places in the Glasgow area and London having been told to self-isolate.

She stayed overnight in a London hotel before travelling back to Glasgow the following day, where she then visited other places such as a mass in the city's St Mungo's church and a bar in Prestwick, Ayrshire.

Scotland was under strict instructions at the time.It comes after it emerged that she claimed £175 in expenses for the overnight stay, according to data released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

 In October 2020, the Metropolitan Police said it would take 'no further action' against the MP following an investigation. 

However, Police Scotland subsequently charged her with culpable and reckless conduct - which she admitted last month.