Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has admitted pleading guilty to a criminal offense linked to a police investigation into a mobile phone she said was stolen.
In a statement, Haigh said she told police she lost her phone during an assault at a party in 2013, but later discovered it didn't have been taken.
She said it was a “genuine mistake” but was advised by a lawyer “not to comment” during a police interview. Police then referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, she said.
She said she pleaded guilty to making a false statement to police at a magistrates' court six months before becoming an MP in the 2015 election, and received an acquittal – the “lowest possible result”.
A discharge is a type of sentence imposed on a person guilty of an offense but for which the court decides not to impose a significant sentence.
Whitehall sources told the BBC that the Transport Secretary declared her resignation when she was appointed to the shadow cabinet while Labor was in opposition.
In a statement, Haigh said: “In 2013 I was attacked on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.
“I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I thought had been confiscated, including a work mobile phone that had been issued to me by my employer.
“Some time later, I discovered that the cell phone in question had not been confiscated. In the meantime, I had received another work phone.
“The original working device being turned on attracted the attention of the police and I was asked to come forward for questioning.
“My lawyer advised me not to comment during this interview and I regret following that advice.
“The police contacted the CPS and I appeared before the magistrates’ court.
“On the advice of my lawyer, I pleaded guilty, even though it was a real mistake from which I benefited in no way. The magistrates accepted all these arguments and gave me the result on lowest possible – a relaxation – available.”
Louise Haigh is a former special constable, a volunteer police officer with full powers of arrest who served in the Metropolitan Police until 2011.
The BBC has asked the Department for Transport to clarify the offense to which she pleaded guilty and whether the discharge was conditional or unconditional.
