The former Labour MP convicted of making false expenses claims

Chaytor, 61, of Lumbutts in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey yesterday to three charges of false accounting amounting to more than 18,000.

One of the charges related to allowance claims for rent he paid to a woman for a house in Bury, who later turned out to be his mother who was residing in a home suffering from Alzheimer's. She was never paid the money and has subsequently died.

The former MP was mobbed by photographers as he left court after admitting false accounting involving a total of 18,350 which he charged on his expenses.

He was remanded on bail to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on January 7.

Chaytor, a former lecturer who is married and has three children, faces up to seven years in jail but his guilty pleas mean the judge can reduce his sentence by a third.

His admission of guilt comes after previous denials of the charges in court as well as a failed legal challenge to have his case dismissed because of Parliamentary privilege. Simon Clements, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Chaytor would now face "consequences of his actions".

Profile: Humiliation for lecturer who turned to politics