MPs’ expenses: Elliot Morley jailed for 16 months

Former environment minister sentenced at Southwark crown court after pleading guilty to claiming more than £30,000 in bogus mortgage payments Elliot Morley has been jailed for 16 months, becoming the first former minister to be sentenced in the Westminster expenses scandal. Morley, a former environment minister, was sentenced at Southwark crown court, in London. Last month, he pleaded guilty to claiming more than £30,000 in bogus mortgage payments. He entered two guilty pleas for false accounting relating to his home in Winterton, near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, between 2004 and 2007. His barrister accepted it was not a question of “if but how long” he faced behind bars. Morley, whose conviction was the most high-profile since the expenses scandal broke, pocketed £30,428 by claiming for a phantom mortgage and inflating the amount he was previously paying. He wrongly filled out a total of 40 forms relating to payments for his home. In total, he claimed £16,800 on a phantom mortgage and £15,200 after inflating the amount he was previously paying, for which he should have been entitled to only £1,572. Speaking after Morley had entered his pleas, Simon Clements, the reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Mr Morley had claimed he was unaware the mortgage had been paid off. For most of us, paying off the mortgage is a red letter day, and members of the public have found it difficult to comprehend his explanation that he was not aware that had happened. “The parliamentary expenses system exists to assist the public’s representatives in carrying out their duties, but Mr Morley used it to line his own pockets with just over £30,000 – more than an average household’s annual income. Such behaviour is blatantly dishonest, and cannot be excused.” Morley’s prosecution overshadows a political career spanning more than 20 years. An MP for Scunthorpe from 1987 to 2010, the former teacher was one of Labour’s most prominent voices on agricultural issues and the environment. He was the party’s 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. MPs’ expenses House of Commons Crime guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 20, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.