Ex-Labour MP Eric Illsley jailed over £14,500 expenses scandal

Sentence: Eric Illsley outside Southwark Crown Court
12 April 2012

Disgraced former Labour MP Eric Illsley has been jailed for 12 months for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.

The 55-year-old became the first sitting Member of Parliament convicted of abusing expenses when he pleaded guilty last month to dishonestly claiming more than £14,000 of taxpayers' money.

He faced massive pressure to stand down as the MP for Barnsley Central after his conviction but did not quit until this week.

He was jailed at Southwark Crown Court this afternoon.

Illsley had previously denied dishonestly claiming a total of more than £25,000, arguing that lax Commons allowances were designed to "supplement" the income of politicians.

But his barrister William Coker QC said his client admitted wrongly obtaining a revised sum of about £14,500.

The claims were made for council tax, telephone usage, service charges and maintenance, and insurance and repairs at his second home in Renfrew Road, Kennington.

Illsley, of Westmoor Crescent, Pogmoor, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to three charges of false accounting relating to three years of expenses on his London property.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the Crown accepted the revised figure for the dishonest claims.

Despite the questions hanging over his expenses, Illsley was re-elected last May with a majority of more than 11,000.

He could theoretically have stayed on as a MP with a jail term of less than 12 months.

However, following calls for him to go from both Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband, he expressed "deep regret" over his actions and said he would quit before the court decided his fate.

The by-election for Illsley's Barnsley Central seat is expected to be held on March 3.

Former Labour MP David Chaytor - who stood down at the general election - last month became the first person to be jailed over the expenses scandal.

He was given an 18-month sentence after admitting he forged tenancy documents and invoices to falsely claim more than £22,000 of taxpayers' money from House of Commons authorities for rent and IT work.

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