Ex-Tory peer found guilty of £11,000 expenses fiddle

Lord Taylor of Warwick, who lived in London, wrongly filed for travel and overnight subsistence after telling the House of Lords members’ expenses office that his main home was in Oxford.

Southwark Crown Court heard that Taylor, 58, of Lynwood Road, Ealing, never stayed in the Oxford property and had no legal or financial interest in it.

He maintained that he was following advice given to him by fellow peers, that nominating a residence outside London was a way to earn money in “lieu of salary”. One lord, he said, told him he would be “crazy” not to.

But a jury found Taylor guilty of six charges of false accounting by a majority of 11 to one. The offences related to claims totalling £11,277.80, made between March 2006 and October 2007.

The case was adjourned for sentencing.

A House of Lords spokesman confirmed that Taylor, who resigned the Tory whip after the allegations emerged, had yet to repay any of the money he claimed wrongly.

Stephen O’Doherty, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “A jury has seen through his dishonesty by finding him guilty of theft by false accounting. He will now face the consequences of his actions.”

Taylor, who is likely to keep his peerage despite his conviction, was the first parliamentarian to be tried and found guilty by a jury over the expenses scandal.

Former Labour MP and Calderdale councillor David Chaytor was jailed for 18 months after admitting he falsely claimed more than £22,000 of taxpayers’ money.

His former Labour colleague Eric Illsley stood down as MP for Barnsley Central and is to be sentenced for dishonestly claiming more than £14,000 in expenses.