David Chaytor, the first former British member of parliament (MP) to be convicted over the UK parliamentary expenses scandal, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday.
The former Labour MP for Bury North, in the northwest of England, last month pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in central London to three charges of false accounting, days before he had been due to stand trial. He faced a maximum sentence of seven years.
Chaytor had admitted false accounting involving a total of £18,350 (US$13,000).
He had agreed to pay back the sum before the hearing at the crown court in Southwark, south London.
Mr Justice Saunders said a significant penalty for the 61-year-old was “the only way public faith in the system can be restored and maintained.”
“The whole expenses scandal has shaken public confidence in the legislature, it has angered the public,” he said. “Chaytor only bears a small part of responsibility for that erosion of confidence and the public anger. But it is important because he has accepted his conduct was dishonest.”
Saunders said the offences had “wider and more important -consequences than is to be found in other breach of trust cases,” adding: “That is the effect they have had, and will have, in the confidence the public has in politicians.”
Chaytor gave no reaction as he was sentenced. Court sources told the Press Association news agency that the former MP would be taken to Wandsworth prison, in southwest London, to spend his first night in custody.
During submissions on Friday, defense lawyer James Sturman QC had pleaded for any prison sentence to be suspended and a community punishment imposed.
He said Chaytor, a former university lecturer, faced further -public humiliation if ordered to pick up litter or similar work because he would be photographed.
“We submit that the sums he received, if he had gone about it transparently, honestly and frankly, he would have been entitled to every penny, if not more than he claimed,” Sturman said.
He added that Chaytor had pleaded guilty out of “deep and genuine remorse.”
However, Peter Wright QC, for the prosecution, said the fact that Chaytor submitted false invoices proved that he knew he was breaking the rules.
“We say Mr Chaytor knew the rules, and we say why else would he produce false documents in support of his claims otherwise?” he told the court.
Chaytor had claimed £12,925 between 2005 and 2006 for renting an apartment in Westminster, London, producing a tenancy agreement purporting to show that he was paying £1,175 a month in rent to the landlord, Sarah Elizabeth Rastrick.
But she was his daughter — although her name was disguised by using her middle name as a surname — and the apartment was owned by Chaytor and his wife, who had already paid off the mortgage.
Chaytor also claimed £5,425 between 2007 and 2008 for renting a home in Castle Street, Bury, which was owned by his mother.
He produced a tenancy agreement falsely showing he was paying £775 a month. House of Commons rules do not allow MPs to claim for leasing a property from a family member.
A third charge related to two invoices of £995 each for IT support services in May 2006 when the “services had not been provided or charged for.” The court heard that money was never paid to him.
Chaytor, from Todmorden, Lancashire, northwest England, took his case to the Supreme Court, the highest in the land, to try to prevent it being heard by the courts.
He argued, along with two other former Labour MPs Elliot Morley and Jim Devine that criminal proceedings would infringe parliamentary privilege.
Chaytor changed his plea after his arguments were rejected by the Supreme Court. Morley and Devine face separate trials at a future date.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese