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MP wants tougher sentence for ex‑aide

Christopher DayLocal Democracy Reporting Service
News imageStevenage Borough Council Conor McGrath looking at the camera and smiling, with a white background behind him. He has short brown hair and a beard. He is wearing a light grey patterned top.Stevenage Borough Council
Conor McGrath was a borough councillor in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, between 2023 and 2025

An MP has called for a review of the sentence handed to his former aide who avoided jail for possessing indecent images of children.

Conor McGrath, 29, who worked for Stevenage Labour MP Kevin Bonavia, was given an eight-month sentence suspended for two years after he admitted to possessing more than 500 indecent images of children.

Bonavia said he was "very surprised" at the suspended sentence and has asked for the Attorney General's Office to review it so that it "properly reflects just how serious and unacceptable Mr McGrath's crimes were".

The Attorney General's Office has been approached for comment.

McGrath was a parliamentary aide to Bonavia from shortly after the general election in 2024 until about April 2025, when McGrath was arrested on suspicion of making indecent images of children.

Judge Jonathan Mann KC decided against sending McGrath to prison, taking into account his guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and his age.

Sentencing guidelines for possessing indecent images of children state that the starting point for possessing Category A images – 77 of which were found on McGrath's devices – should be one year in prison.

However, the judge is required to take into account other determinants, including both aggravating and mitigating factors.

News imageSam Read/BBC Kevin Bonavia smiling in a car park while smartly dressed. He has short black hair and stubble on his face. He is wearing a white shirt, burgundy tie and a textured black overcoat.Sam Read/BBC
MP Kevin Bonavia referred the case to the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme

Bonavia said: "Since becoming aware of the appalling crimes for which [McGrath] has now been convicted, I have said that justice must be allowed to take its course in McGrath's case, the same as any other.

"I was, however, very surprised at how lenient the sentence was for such serious offences."

Under the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme, anyone can ask for the Attorney General's Office to review sentences that they believe are too lenient.

McGrath also served as a Labour borough councillor for Bedwell ward in Stevenage, and was a governor at Broom Barns Primary School.

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