Conviction comes by majority verdict after jurors fail to come to a unanimous decision
Nilgün Canver
A TURKISH local politician in Haringey has been handed a 12-month conditional discharge after being convicted of perverting the course of justice.
Nilgün Canver had been accused of lying to police offiers to cover for her joyriding son, who had crashed the family car on Seven Sisters Road.
Despite her argument that she corrected herself almost immediately, jurors returned a guilty verdict by a majority of 10-2 after nearly 12 hours of deliberation.
Before passing sentence, Judge Fraser Morrison said: “This was a short period of lunacy on your part and your good sense of judgement had parted from you.
“Perhaps you thought you were protecting your son but your attempts to pull the wool over the police officer’s eyes was short-lived and were doomed to fail, as you see now.”
However, the judge described the circumstances as “wholly exceptional” and handed her a 12-month conditional discharge, meaning she walked free provided she did not appear in court over the coming year.
CAR CRASH
Burak Canver, 22, crashed his family’s BMW 520d into a lamppost after hitting a man on the Seven Sisters Road on 24 January this year.
He was convicted in August of taking the car without consent, failing to stop after an accident and driving without insurance.
Ms Canver was suspended by the Labour Party after being charged last summer.
She has been a councillor since 1998. She joined Haringey’s cabinet in five years later as the member for Crime and Community Safety, a role she held until assuming the environment portfolio in 2010. She was also a Labour candidate for London in the 2009 European Parliament election.
She could theoretically stand as an independent councillor for St Ann’s ward at this May’s local election, but she will be unable to stand again for Labour as the party has already nominated a candidate to replace her.