The former Labour MP David Chaytor has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for falsifying his expenses claims. Chaytor, 61, became the first politician to be convicted and sentenced over the MPs' expenses scandal revealed by the Daily Telegraph.
The judge said the scandal had angered the public and "shaken public confidence in the legislature".
How the Telegraph revealed the phantom claims
How the Telegraph revealed the phantom claims (ii)
Chaytor submitted bogus invoices to support claims totalling £22,650 for IT services and renting homes in London and his Bury North constituency.
He was convicted last month at the Old Bailey of three counts of theft by false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968.
Looking gaunt and wearing a charcoal suit with a grey shirt and a black tie with white polka dots, Chaytor stood calmly in the dock and made no reaction as he was sentenced.
Court sources said the former MP would be taken to Wandsworth Prison in south-west London to spend his first night in custody.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "David Chaytor had already been suspended from the Labour Party and following his custodial sentence he has now been excluded from the party."
The former MP is now facing a large legal bill for both his defence and the costs of bringing the prosecution against him.
Chaytor made the false claims in order to "siphon off" public money to which he was not entitled, the court heard.
But he has now repaid £19,237, more than the £18,350 he received from the House of Commons fees office based on his fraudulent claims.
Chaytor submitted claims totalling £15,275 and was paid £12,925 for renting Flat 152 Hide Tower in Regency Street, Westminster, central London.
But it turned out that he and his wife had bought the property in 1999, two years after he was first elected to Parliament, and paid off the mortgage on it in 2003.
He used the first and two middle names of his daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Rastrick, on a bogus short hold tenancy agreement submitted to the Parliamentary authorities.
Chaytor also falsely claimed £5,425 between September 2007 and January 2008 for renting a cottage in Castle Street in Summerseat, near Bury, Lancashire.
A police investigation later revealed that this house was owned by his elderly mother, Olive Trickett.
Mr Justice Saunders added that people who make fraudulent claims for public benefits are "rightly condemned" by others.
He said many of these fraudsters are poor and added Chaytor cannot claim this in mitigation.
The judge said: "The whole expenses scandal has shaken public confidence in the legislature, it has angered the public.
"Chaytor only bears a small part of responsibility for that erosion of confidence and the public anger.
"But it is important because he has accepted his conduct was dishonest.
"These kind of offences are difficult to detect because of the trust placed in an individual to be honest in his or her claim.
"When they are discovered it is necessary significant penalties should follow so people realise how important it is for people to be honest in dealing with public funds.
"That is the only way public faith in the system can be restored and maintained."
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, rejected Chaytor's claim that he produced the fake invoices in order to simplify the expenses process.
He said: "It is maintained by the defence that his purpose in creating those documents was in fact to short-circuit the route by which expenses could be claimed.
"We, on behalf of the Crown, do not accept that."
James Sturman QC, mitigating, said Chaytor pleaded guilty out of "deep and genuine remorse" as well as to apologise to everyone he had let down.
He said the former MP had already paid a "quite devastating price" for his errors and stressed that there was no loss to the public purse.
Mr Sturman said Chaytor was entitled to at least as much as he claimed and displayed "inexplicable stupidity" in submitting the fraudulent documents.
"We submit that the sums he received, if he had gone about it transparently, honestly and frankly, he would have been entitled to every penny, if not more than he claimed," he said.
"The fact that he would have been entitled to claim for a second property has been somewhat lost in the clamour and hysteria surrounding the case."
Chaytor has forever lost his "hard-earned reputation for integrity" and is almost certainly suffering from depression as a result of the negative publicity surrounding his prosecution, the court heard.
Mr Sturman condemned the media coverage of the case, saying: "It has been gleeful, gloating, mocking, and many sections of the press have not paused to consider the impact on the man."
Chaytor is the first of three former MPs to face criminal trials to plead guilty.
Elliot Morley and Jim Devine will be tried separately at Southwark Crown Court.
The Supreme Court announced last month that that all three had lost their appeal against being tried in a criminal court because parliamentary privilege does not cover “ordinary crimes”.
The judge said the scandal had angered the public and "shaken public confidence in the legislature".
How the Telegraph revealed the phantom claims
How the Telegraph revealed the phantom claims (ii)
Chaytor submitted bogus invoices to support claims totalling £22,650 for IT services and renting homes in London and his Bury North constituency.
He was convicted last month at the Old Bailey of three counts of theft by false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968.
Looking gaunt and wearing a charcoal suit with a grey shirt and a black tie with white polka dots, Chaytor stood calmly in the dock and made no reaction as he was sentenced.
Court sources said the former MP would be taken to Wandsworth Prison in south-west London to spend his first night in custody.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "David Chaytor had already been suspended from the Labour Party and following his custodial sentence he has now been excluded from the party."
The former MP is now facing a large legal bill for both his defence and the costs of bringing the prosecution against him.
Chaytor made the false claims in order to "siphon off" public money to which he was not entitled, the court heard.
But he has now repaid £19,237, more than the £18,350 he received from the House of Commons fees office based on his fraudulent claims.
Chaytor submitted claims totalling £15,275 and was paid £12,925 for renting Flat 152 Hide Tower in Regency Street, Westminster, central London.
But it turned out that he and his wife had bought the property in 1999, two years after he was first elected to Parliament, and paid off the mortgage on it in 2003.
He used the first and two middle names of his daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Rastrick, on a bogus short hold tenancy agreement submitted to the Parliamentary authorities.
Chaytor also falsely claimed £5,425 between September 2007 and January 2008 for renting a cottage in Castle Street in Summerseat, near Bury, Lancashire.
A police investigation later revealed that this house was owned by his elderly mother, Olive Trickett.
Mr Justice Saunders added that people who make fraudulent claims for public benefits are "rightly condemned" by others.
He said many of these fraudsters are poor and added Chaytor cannot claim this in mitigation.
The judge said: "The whole expenses scandal has shaken public confidence in the legislature, it has angered the public.
"Chaytor only bears a small part of responsibility for that erosion of confidence and the public anger.
"But it is important because he has accepted his conduct was dishonest.
"These kind of offences are difficult to detect because of the trust placed in an individual to be honest in his or her claim.
"When they are discovered it is necessary significant penalties should follow so people realise how important it is for people to be honest in dealing with public funds.
"That is the only way public faith in the system can be restored and maintained."
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, rejected Chaytor's claim that he produced the fake invoices in order to simplify the expenses process.
He said: "It is maintained by the defence that his purpose in creating those documents was in fact to short-circuit the route by which expenses could be claimed.
"We, on behalf of the Crown, do not accept that."
James Sturman QC, mitigating, said Chaytor pleaded guilty out of "deep and genuine remorse" as well as to apologise to everyone he had let down.
He said the former MP had already paid a "quite devastating price" for his errors and stressed that there was no loss to the public purse.
Mr Sturman said Chaytor was entitled to at least as much as he claimed and displayed "inexplicable stupidity" in submitting the fraudulent documents.
"We submit that the sums he received, if he had gone about it transparently, honestly and frankly, he would have been entitled to every penny, if not more than he claimed," he said.
"The fact that he would have been entitled to claim for a second property has been somewhat lost in the clamour and hysteria surrounding the case."
Chaytor has forever lost his "hard-earned reputation for integrity" and is almost certainly suffering from depression as a result of the negative publicity surrounding his prosecution, the court heard.
Mr Sturman condemned the media coverage of the case, saying: "It has been gleeful, gloating, mocking, and many sections of the press have not paused to consider the impact on the man."
Chaytor is the first of three former MPs to face criminal trials to plead guilty.
Elliot Morley and Jim Devine will be tried separately at Southwark Crown Court.
The Supreme Court announced last month that that all three had lost their appeal against being tried in a criminal court because parliamentary privilege does not cover “ordinary crimes”.
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