3 December 2010 Last updated at 15:42MPs' expenses: David Chaytor pleads guilty to charges
David Chaytor will be sentenced in January
Former Labour MP David Chaytor has pleaded guilty to three charges relating to his expenses claims.
Chaytor, 61, the former MP for Bury North, was charged with false accounting totalling just over £20,000.
He stood down as an MP at the general election after stories about his expenses emerged in the press.
He changed his plea ahead of a trial which was due to start on Monday. He was the first Parliamentarian due to face trial over his expenses.
He will be sentenced on 7 January at Southwark Crown Court. He faces a maximum seven years in jail but is likely to receive a more lenient sentence because of his guilty plea.
Family memberTwo other former MPs, one current MP and two members of the House of Lords are due to face separate trials over their expenses claims.
Continue reading the main story“Start Quote
End Quote Crown Prosecution ServiceNothing that happened today should reflect on any defendant in any other case”
Chaytor had claimed £12,925 between 2005 and 2006 for renting a flat in Regency Street, near Westminster, which he owned the lease to - he produced a tenancy agreement falsely showing he was paying £1,175 a month rent.
He also falsely claimed £5,425 between 2007 and 2008 for renting a home in Castle Street, Bury, which was owned by his mother. He had produced a false tenancy agreement showing he was paying £775 a month.
The charge said that he was not paying his mother and would not have been allowed to claim for leasing a property from a family member.
A third charge related to falsely charging £1,950 for IT support services in May 2006 - money which was not paid to him. The charge said that he supplied two invoices from a man named Paul France for his professional services "when in fact the services had not been provided or charged for".
'Abused trust'He had denied the charges but appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday to change his plea, having failed in a court bid to argue that expenses cases should be heard by Parliament, not the courts.
He was granted unconditional bail.
Asked for his reaction to the verdict, Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "We take seriously any breaches of rules on expenses. It's for the court to reach its judgement in that case."
He added: "It is very important that we do all we can, as we have done in Parliament, to clean up our expenses system."
Chaytor was mobbed by photographers as he left the court with his legal team before getting into a taxi. He did not comment.
Speaking outside the Old Bailey, Simon Clements, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "David Chaytor has admitted his dishonesty and will now face the consequences of his actions.
"No-one, no matter what their position, should be allowed to take money they are not entitled to.
Media disclosures"By his actions David Chaytor has abused the trust placed in him by the public.
"I would remind everyone that today is about David Chaytor alone.
"Nothing that happened today should reflect on any defendant in any other case."
Chaytor, who was elected during Labour's 1997 landslide victory, had spent his 13 years in the Commons on the back benches.
He was suspended by the Labour Party and barred from standing for them again after stories about his expenses claims emerged when the Daily Telegraph published hundreds of claims made by MPs over several years.
At the time he apologised for what he called accounting errors and referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner for investigation.
But after a lengthy police inquiry the Crown Prosecution Service announced in February he would face criminal charges.
Friday, 3 December 2010
BBC News - MPs' expenses: David Chaytor pleads guilty to charges
via bbc.co.uk
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