FORMER LABOUR MP David Chaytor, the first former politician to be convicted over the House of Commons expenses scandal that rocked British politics in 2009 and led to a wave of retirements and four prosecutions so far, has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for fraudulently claiming nearly £20,000 worth of expenses.
Delivering the sentence in Southwark Crown Court, Mr Justice Saunders said a jail term for Chaytor, who pleaded guilty to the charge after failing to stop a prosecution against him, was “the only way public faith in the system can be restored and maintained” given that the 2009 scandal had ‘shaken public confidence in the legislature’.
Giving no reaction to the court on hearing of his sentence, Chaytor, who represented Bury North from 1997 until he stepped down in May, last night spent his first night behind bars in Wandsworth Prison after the judge refused defence pleas to suspend the jail term, or to require him to spend time working on community projects.
Former Commons colleagues last night expressed sympathy for Chaytor, with one Labour MP, Barry Sheerman, saying that he thought that he had been unfairly singled out because others who had abused the expenses rules in both Labour and the Conservative Party had been protected by their parties’ leaderships.
Two other former Labour MPs, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine, and Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield are awaiting trial on similar charges.
All three have pleaded not guilty. However, the Crown Prosecution Service is still deliberating on a number of other files opened against still unnamed MPs and former MPs and members of the House of Lords.