Expenses-fraud MP Elliot Morley freed with three-quarters of sentence still to run

Morley, who claimed more than £30,000 in bogus mortgage payments relating to his home in Winterton, near Scunthorpe, between 2004 and 2007, was released from Ford open prison, near Arundel, West Sussex, early this morning.

He joins three other former Labour MPs - David Chaytor, Eric Illsley and Jim Devine - and two former Tory peers - Lord Taylor and Lord Hanningfield - who have already been released after serving time behind bars for their role in the expenses scandal.

Morley, 59, was the first former minister to be jailed for fiddling his expenses.

It is understood that he was freed under the home detention curfew scheme, which allows prisoners who pose a low risk to be tagged and released early after serving at least a quarter of their sentence.

He pleaded guilty in April to claiming more than £30,000 in the scam, the largest sum claimed by any of the politicians so far convicted over the expenses scandal.

Sentencing Morley to 16 months’ imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court in May, Mr Justice Saunders said he was guilty of “blatant dishonesty” and had “thrown away his good name and character”.

In total, he claimed £16,800 on a bogus mortgage and £15,200 after inflating the amount he was previously paying - for which he should have been entitled to only £1,572.

Mr Justice Saunders said: “I am satisfied from the nature of the mortgage transactions and the correspondence that the excessive claims were made deliberately and are not explicable even in part by oversight.”

The prosecution overshadowed a political career lasting more than 20 years.

As MP for Scunthorpe from 1987 to 2010, former teacher Morley was one of Labour’s most prominent voices on agricultural issues and the environment.

He was party spokesman on rural affairs and animal welfare from 1989 until the 1997 election victory, and served under Tony Blair as environment minister from 2003 to 2006.

But during that time he was claiming thousands of pounds more than any of the other MPs convicted.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said Morley had “engaged in the wholesale abuse of the expenses system”.

The packed courtroom heard that between May 2004 and November 2007, Morley claimed significantly more than the value of his mortgage on his second home.

In that period he submitted 19 claims for “excessive mortgage payments” to which he was not entitled, worth £15,200.

Despite paying off the mortgage for the property in 2006, he continued to claim £800 a month in fraudulent payments.

Between March 2006 and November 2007 he submitted 21 second-home allowance forms totalling £16,800 for payments on a mortgage that did not exist.

Mr Justice Saunders said: “The continuation of the claim for £800 a month after the mortgage had been redeemed can properly be described as blatant dishonesty.

“The results of this case are tragic for the defendant and his family.

“He has thrown away his good name and good character.”

Under parliamentary expenses rules, Morley was entitled to claim only the interest element of mortgage payments on his second home.

This sum varied from £52 per month in 2004 to just £5.85 in February 2006, but throughout this period Morley continued to claim £800 per month.

After receiving a letter from the Parliamentary fees office, Morley explained his behaviour as an “embarrassing and inadvertent oversight”.

Jim Sturman QC, mitigating, said: “This is a tragic end to a lifetime of public service. He has done an enormous amount of good, often for no pay.

“He’s made a grotesque error of judgment.”

A Prison Service spokeswoman said: “Home Detention Curfew (HDC) is available to low-risk prisoners serving sentences of more than three months and less than four years, who are deemed appropriate for early release.

“To be placed on HDC, a prisoner must have served a quarter of their sentence and have spent a minimum of 30 days in prison.

“If a prison governor thinks there is a significant risk to the public, or risk of reoffending on HDC, then the release will not be granted.”

Emma Boon, campaign director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the early release “will do little to restore taxpayers’ faith in politics after the expenses scandal”.

“Even if he is not a dangerous criminal, he and other MPs and peers convicted over fraudulent claims should have served more of their sentences to reflect the seriousness of their crimes,” she said.

“It’s disgraceful that he’s walked free so soon and many taxpayers will feel that justice has not been done.”