Scottish MP guilty of expenses fraud after submitting false cleaning bills

Devine, 57, who held the Livingston seat in Scotland, submitted false invoices for cleaning and printing work totalling £8,385.

He was yesterday found guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court of two charges of false accounting. He was cleared of one other count relating £360 for cleaning work.

The former backbencher, of Bathgate in West Lothian, was the first MP to stand trial in the wake of the expenses scandal.

The jury of six men and six women took two hours and 45 minutes to agree with the prosecution that on the two counts Devine showed a “woeful inadequacy” in abiding by the core principles expected of MPs.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said the case against Devine was “very straightforward”.

The former MP made the fraudulent claims “with a view to gain for himself, or with an intent to cause loss to another – the public purse”.

The prosecutor said a guide known as the Green Book was readily available to MPs and clearly set out the rules and regulations on submitting expenses that must relate to parliamentary duties.

It lists the fundamental principles MPs should adhere to when making expenses claims, Mr Wright told the court.

“These are based on concepts of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership,” he said.

“We say these are qualities of which Mr Devine demonstrated a woeful inadequacy.”

Speaking of the Green Book, he added: “We say it’s wholly unambiguous. It couldn’t be clearer.”

Devine was granted unconditional bail by Mr Justice Saunders, the trial judge, and he will be sentenced in due course. The red-faced former MP walked with a slight limp out of the dock after he was dismissed by Mr Justice Saunders.

During the trial Devine claimed his former office manager Marion Kinley paid herself more than £5,000 from his staffing allowance without his knowledge.

Commenting after today’s verdict, Ms Kinley said: “Justice has been done. The jury obviously saw through Mr Devine’s lies.

“For legal reasons, I will not be making any further comment at this time.”

Simon Clements, head of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime division, said: “Jim Devine submitted invoices for services that he had neither paid for nor received. In doing so, he took advantage of the trust that had been placed in him by virtue of the public office he held.

“Submitting a false invoice is plainly dishonest, regardless of why it has been done or who has done it. We say there is no excuse for such conduct and, with today’s conviction, it is clear the jury agreed.”

Devine told the court he acted on advice given to him with a “nod and a wink” during a boozy conversation in a House of Commons watering hole, and he even tried to pin the blame on his former office manager Marion Kinley.

The disgraced former union official told the court from the witness box he found Ms Kinley had paid herself extra cash of £1,000 over time and £4,300 as a bonus.

He said he went straight to the fees office to take control of his account and shortly after, Ms Kinley went on sick leave.

Tom O’Donnell, a cleaning company boss and pub landlord, said in evidence Devine told him he was being “stitched up” by a former secretary.

But the jury saw through the defences put to them by Devine and convicted him on two of three counts of false accounting he faced.

On the first count they agreed with the defence case, that Devine had paid for two batches of cleaning work through Tom O’Donnell Hygiene and Cleaning for £180 each.

However, he was found guilty of the second charge, that he got somebody else to complete three invoices from the cleaning company for £360, £360 and £2,160.