MP jailed over expenses

[Jordy]

Ex-Labour MP David Chaytor has been jailed for 18 months for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses.

Chaytor, 61, the former MP for Bury North, last month admitted three charges of false accounting.

He submitted bogus invoices for IT consultancy work and claimed rent he never paid on homes owned by his family, the court was told.

His lawyer James Sturman QC said he was a "broken man" who had paid a "devastating price" for the claims.

The former MP is now facing a large legal bill for both his defence and the costs of bringing the prosecution against him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12127327

That's not to say that the expense's crisis has been handled remotely well or that our justice system is particularly good, because it isn't, however it's nice to see justice prevail every so often and have him banged up in jail with some extortionate bills to pay off

I look forward to the other expense's trials coming up.

[GommeInc]

18 months is pretty shocking, I was expecting less for some reason He's a fraudster, and thus will be handled like one. They handled it all very badly, but thankfully some justice. It's a shame politics seems to be about making money for self-gain, rather than actually serving people, which many of these imbesiles have done.

[Nationalism]

Although our justice system is appalling and this is only one out of hundreds of cases, it's good to see.
He get's everything he deserves, and also anything that happens to him inside of the prison.
Scum like him deserve to be in jail, he is far worse than any normal fraudster, for betraying the British public and government.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Well it is clear this guy has been used as a scapegoat for the rest of them, its very simple - get the serious fraud squad in to investigate the books and the MPs including the MEPs & Lords - and for that matter, lets get the serious fraud squad in to check over government/EU accounts.

If fraud is detected and found then take them to court.

Interestingly enough, Tony Blairs expenses claims were 'accidently' shredded - hmm yes, and i'm Jesus Christ.

[Catzsy]

Well it is clear this guy has been used as a scapegoat for the rest of them, its very simple - get the serious fraud squad in to investigate the books and the MPs including the MEPs & Lords - and for that matter, lets get the serious fraud squad in to check over government/EU accounts.

If fraud is detected and found then take them to court.

Interestingly enough, Tony Blairs expenses claims were 'accidently' shredded - hmm yes, and i'm Jesus Christ.

I was going to give you a +rep for the post until I read the last line. Please don't make comments about people that insinuate wrong doing without proof. It just makes you look as you have a vendetta against certain people and makes you look worse than the tacky tabloids 18 months is just about right for this. Probably would have been 12 months for normal fraud but this has the element of 'breach of trust' so is harsher.

[-:Undertaker:-]

I was going to give you a +rep for the post until I read the last line. Please don't make comments about people that insinuate wrong doing without proof. It just makes you look as you have a vendetta against certain people and makes you look worse than the tacky tabloids 18 months is just about right for this. Probably would have been 12 months for normal fraud but this has the element of 'breach of trust' so is harsher.

So you don't become suspicious when Blairs expenses are 'accidently' shredded? I was unaware that you could accidently shred hundreds of pages of important documents relating to work, strange how they were shredded just in time when the MPs expenses saga was exposed by the Telegraph don't you think? how very convenient.

This is the man afterall who claimed Iraq had WMD pointing at us, so you can't blame me for taking what he says with a pinch of salt.

[Jordy]

I was going to give you a +rep for the post until I read the last line. Please don't make comments about people that insinuate wrong doing without proof. It just makes you look as you have a vendetta against certain people and makes you look worse than the tacky tabloids 18 months is just about right for this. Probably would have been 12 months for normal fraud but this has the element of 'breach of trust' so is harsher.

Unfortunately the problem is we no longer have any proof seeing as it was mysteriously and incorrectly shredded which I'm sure you'll agree is wrong (and also illegal I should imagine). It very much insinuates wrong-doing, why else would they be shredded?

[Catzsy]

So you don't become suspicious when Blairs expenses are 'accidently' shredded? I was unaware that you could accidently shred hundreds of pages of important documents relating to work, strange how they were shredded just in time when the MPs expenses saga was exposed by the Telegraph don't you think? how very convenient.

This is the man afterall who claimed Iraq had WMD pointing at us, so you can't blame me for taking what he says with a pinch of salt.

Unfortunately the problem is we no longer have any proof seeing as it was mysteriously and incorrectly shredded which I'm sure you'll agree is wrong (and also illegal I should imagine). It very much insinuates wrong-doing, why else would they be shredded?

I can see what you are both saying but if what Dan said was published ie.

Interestingly enough, Tony Blairs expenses claims were 'accidently' shredded - hmm yes, and i'm Jesus Christ.

he could be sued for libel as he is actually saying they weren't actually shredded deliberately. To be suspicious is one thing and I am not going to go deeper into this area as you well know that I don't agree with you about Wmd and the enquiry has not yet reached any conclusions. Where is the 'innocent until proven guilty'? An enquiry should have been instigated no matter whose expenses they were and If it was found they did do it deliberately then action should have been taken. It does nobody any good to have these 'suspicions' hanging over them.