MP's wife sentenced for stealing cat

The wife of a Liberal Democrat MP has been given a nine-month suspended sentence for stealing a kitten from the home of her husband's lover.Christine Hemming, 53, whose husband John is MP for Birmingham Yardley, was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court of burglary last month.She was filmed on CCTV removing the kitten, called Beauty, from the Birmingham home of Emily Cox last year.Hemming was ordered to do 150 hours of community work and pay £1,000 costs.The kitten, owned by the young daughter the MP had with Ms Cox, has not been found since it was filmed being removed on 29 September 2010.Hemming has said she still cannot remember how it came to be in her possession.She said: "I did not deliberately take the cat."I went to the property to give my husband his post. I had no recollection of taking the cat."I didn't realise I had it until I returned to the house and there it was in the back of the car."She said she put Beauty over her garden fence and the next day took her to "within 30 metres" of Ms Cox's home thinking she would find her way back.