Former Livingston MP Jim Devine jailed over expenses fraud

Jim Devine, the former Labour MP for Livingston, has been jailed for 16 months for fraudulent expenses claims.

Devine, aged 57, was convicted last month of using false invoices for cleaning and printing work and today he was jailed for his crime. He is the third current or former MP to be jailed for fiddling expenses. The judge, Mr Justice Saunders, sentenced Devine to 16 months on each of the two counts to run concurrently. He was cleared of a third count, relating to £360. The judge told Devine he had “set about defrauding the public purse in a calculated and deliberate way”. The judge said: “These offences constituted a gross breach of trust which, along with others, had had the effect of causing serious damage to the reputation of Parliament. “Mr Devine made his false claims at a time when he knew the damage that was being caused to Parliament by the expenses scandal but he carried on regardless.” He said the cleaning work claimed for by Devine had either not been done at all or not paid for by Devine and the invoices submitted for printing work were “entirely bogus”. Another former Labour MP, David Chaytor, has been jailed for 18 months and another, Eric Illsley has been jailed for 12 months, both also for expenses fraud. The former Conservative peer Lord Taylor of Warwick is still awaiting sentence after being convicted by a jury of fraudulently claiming more than £11,000 for overnight subsistence and travel. Devine’s lawyer claimed that the former MP would probably serve eight months – but might get out in four with good behaviour.

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