With his middle-aged paunch, sagging jeans and tendency to stand around nattering, the bloke in the hi-vis jacket seemed every inch the typical British workman.
To give him his dues, he proved a dab hand with a brush when he eventually got going.
But then he’s always been good with his hands. Or to be more specific, his fists.
For this was Mike Amesbury last week – the disgraced former Labour MP who punched one of his constituents to the ground – getting stuck into a spot of community service.
After being picked up with fellow workers in a Probation Service van, he got down to work on a visitor centre on the River Weaver in Cheshire which is being renovated.
It was quite the fall from grace for the one-time Shadow Employment Minister.
Still, the sun was shining despite the early morning chill, and it was infinitely better than being behind bars.
As it was, Amesbury, 55, spent three nights detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure earlier this month before successfully appealing his 10-week jail sentence for assaulting quantity surveyor Paul Fellows.
Mike Amesbury – the disgraced former Labour MP who punched one of his constituents to the ground – was seen getting stuck into a spot of community service
After being picked up with fellow workers in a Probation Service van, he got down to work on a visitor centre on the River Weaver in Cheshire which is being renovated
Amesbury spent three nights detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure earlier this month before successfully appealing his 10-week jail sentence for assaulting quantity surveyor Paul Fellows
After the drunken sucker-punch last October, Runcorn and Helsby MP Amesbury continued to punch Mr Fellows, 45, another five times as he lay on the ground and shouted ‘you won’t threaten the MP again, will you, you f****** soft lad’.
The married father-of-one, pleaded guilty to common assault and accepted Mr Fellows, who had confronted him about a bridge closure in the Cheshire town of Frodsham, had not physically provoked him.
His punishment was downgraded to a suspended sentence and he must now carry out 200 hours of community service.
