Barnsley MP Eric Illsley jailed for fiddling expenses

Disgraced former Barnsley MP Eric Illsley was today starting a 12 month jail sentence 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.

The Labour MP faced massive pressure to stand down at Barnsley Central after his conviction but did not quit until this week.

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Wearing a charcoal suit, white shirt and a blue tie with red spots, Illsley showed little reaction when the sentence was passed.

After Mr Justice Saunders told the dock officer to “send him down”, he bent down to pick up his overcoat and brown leather holdall and slowly turned around.

The disgraced former MP made the short walk to the door of the dock in Court 1, which leads down to the cells, and waved over his shoulder to a friend in the public gallery.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saunders noted that Illsley received on average £100 a month more than he was entitled to in expenses over a three-year period.

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The former MP admitted to probation officers that he did not need the extra money and attributed his actions to greed.

The judge said Illsley bore a small but significant part of the responsibility for the public’s loss of trust in MPs following the expenses scandal.”

He said: “These offences were committed in breach of what was the high degree of trust placed in MPs by the authorities in the House of Commons only to make honest claims.

“Beyond that, the commission of the offences which came to light as a result of the police investigation into parliamentary expenses has tarnished the reputation of politicians and Parliament.

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“It is vital that people feel able to trust our legislators and their use of public funds.”

The judge said Illsley’s crimes were less serious than those of fellow shamed ex-Labour MP David Chaytor, who was jailed for 18 months last month.

He said: “Mr Illsley’s offending went on for longer, but it resulted in a smaller loss to public funds.

“Significantly it also did not involve the creation of false documents to support the claims.”

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Illsley was able to fiddle his parliamentary expenses until the rules were changed to require MPs to submit more detailed receipts, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He dishonestly received about £14,500 of public money by inflating or inventing claims relating to his second home in London.

The fraud only came to an end when the Commons authorities varied their regulations in April 2008 to require MPs to provide receipts for all claims over £25.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said there was a “dramatic reduction” in the amount Illsley claimed after this time.

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The former MP for Barnsley Central was paid £39,204.25 in expenses between May 2005 and April 2008 but the costs he actually incurred amounted to only £25,000.

Until April 2008 MPs only had to provide receipts for expenses claims over £250, the hearing was told.

Mr Wright said: “Over the period in question a pattern emerges in which Mr Illsley submitted claims in which figures up to but never over £250 were claimed for various expenses that had not been claimed at all or in respect of legitimate expenses that were much smaller and bore little resemblance to the actual sum claimed.”

Illsley made the fraudulent claims for council tax, telephone usage, service charges and maintenance, and insurance and repairs at his second home in Dryden Court, Renfrew Road, Kennington, south London.

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He actually paid £99 a month in council tax for 10 months of the year but routinely claimed expenses of between £200 and £250 a month for the levy, the court heard.

Mr Wright said: “It was only in May 2008, after he was required to submit receipts for claims over £25, that genuine figures so far as council tax is concerned then appear on his claims.”

Illsley’s telephone bill for his London home came to between £34 and £36 a quarter but he claimed between £250 and £650 a quarter, the court heard.

The former MP also added a “fictitious element” of false claims for maintenance when he submitted genuine invoices for the service charge on the property.

When he attended a police station for interview in March 2010 he handed over a prepared statement in which he said he had “at all times acted honestly”.