Lord Hanningfield jailed for nine months

Former Tory peer’s mental health noted by judge in sentencing him for falsely claiming £13,379 in parliamentary expenses Former Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield has been jailed for nine months for fiddling his parliamentary expenses as a judge said his mental health had suffered as a result of his trial. Hanningfield, 70, an ex-Lords opposition frontbencher and leader of Essex county council, falsely claimed £13,379 for overnight stays in London when he was not in the capital. The peer, a former pig farmer from West Hanningfield, near Chelmsford, Essex, was found guilty of six counts of false accounting following an eight day trial at Chelmsford crown court in May. The judge, Mr Justice Saunders, said that when it came to sentencing the main consideration that distinguished his case from others convicted over their expenses, was his poor health. The anxiety and depression suffered by Hanningfield over the case “goes well beyond the level of depression suffered by many people of good character who find themselves for the first time before the courts,” said Saunders, sitting at Maidstone crown court. “He has been diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression and he is being treated for that condition. The bringing of these charges brought about the end of his work which was very important to him. “He is 70 and his physical health is not good. Imprisonment will be harder for him than for others who are mentally and physically fitter. Also, while others convicted in this series of prosecution will have some chance to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of the public, Lord Hanningfield is less likely to be able to do that because of his age, but it is not impossible that he will.” Hanningfield has lodged an appeal against his conviction. During his trial the jury heard he regularly claimed for staying overnight in London, including on one occasion in February 2008 when he was actually on board a flight to India. He also fraudulently claimed £382 in train fares, and £147 in mileage by doubling the seven-mile distance from his house to the train station. He told the jury that he treated the Lords expenses as an allowance for living outside the capital and spent just “a minute a month” completing his claim forms. He alleged that most other peers treated the House of Lords as a “club”, turning up there for only 10 minutes to claim their daily allowance. Hanningfield insisted that his parliamentary duties left him thousands of pounds out of pocket and said he “averaged out” his claims to recoup some of the money he spent. When he was questioned by detectives, he told them to look at the records of other peers and claimed he was not the only one claiming expenses in this way. But Saunders said: “It may well be true that he was out of pocket, although I do not accept that he was out of pocket to the extent that he claimed. He received the privilege of a peerage. He knew, when he accepted a peerage that the job of a working peer was unpaid and he did not have to accept the honour.” The judge added: “Great trust was placed in peers to be honest in their claims for expenses. The public expects no less of them. Lord Hanningfield and others have broken that trust. “His work was his life; and now at the age of 70, he should have been enjoying a retirement in which he could have expected his achievements to be honoured. Instead he has been convicted of fraud by a jury drawn from the county that he served so long, and it is as an expenses cheat that he will be partly remembered.” Four former Labour MPs – David Chaytor, Eric Illsley, Jim Devine and Elliot Morley – have already received prison terms for fiddling their parliamentary expenses. Illsley has already been released from jail, and Chaytor was freed from Spring Hill open prison, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on the day Hanningfield was convicted, after serving just a quarter of his 18-month sentence. Another Conservative peer, Lord Taylor of Warwick, was jailed for 12 months and faces being suspended from the House of Lords. MPs’ expenses House of Commons Eric Illsley Crime House of Lords Conservatives Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk

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