Former Tory peer Lord Hanningfield jailed over fraud
A disgraced former Tory peer and ex-Essex County Council leader has been jailed for nine months for fiddling his parliamentary expenses. Lord Hanningfield, 70, falsely claimed for nearly £14,000 for overnight stays in London when he was not in the...
A disgraced former Tory peer and ex-Essex County Council leader has been jailed for nine months for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.
Lord Hanningfield, 70, falsely claimed for nearly £14,000 for overnight stays in London when he was not in the capital.
His expenses-fiddling included one occasion in February 2008 when he was actually on board a flight to India.
In May he was found guilty of six counts of false accounting at Chelmsford Crown Court and yesterday as he was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court.
Lord Hanningfield joins four ex-MPs and a fellow member of the Lords convicted of dishonestly obtaining thousands of pounds from the taxpayer by making false claims for allowances. Lord Hanningfield, who showed no emotion as sentence was passed, has lodged an appeal.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saunders said he would now be partly remembered as a “benefits cheat”.
He said: “While there were ambiguities in the peers’ expenses schemes which have resulted in its revision, it was clear from the terms of the scheme, as well as according with common sense, that a peer could not claim an overnight allowance to cover the expense of staying the night in London when he did not stay in London but went home.
“It was perfectly clear from the terms of the scheme, as well as according with common sense, that a peer could not claim for travelling expenses that he did not incur.”
The judge said that Lord Hanningfield was not paid for the work he carried out in the House of Lords but he refused to believe the extent to which he claimed he was out of pocket.