Ex-Labour MP jailed over expenses scandal

A FORMER Labour MP was jailed for 18 months yesterday over the country’s lawmakers’ expenses scandal, becoming the first person to be imprisoned following the damaging affair which dented public trust in politics.

The 61-year-old David Chaytor had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of false accounting, acknowledging he had submitted bogus claims for the rent of homes and computer services totalling about £20,000.

Chaytor’s prosecution — and charges filed against five other current and former legislators — follow the 2009 disclosure of previously secret expense files which revealed how politicians had billed the public for items including swank second homes, horse manure and pornographic movies.