Ex-MP Elliot Chaytor admits expenses fraud

Former Labour MP David Chaytor today admitted fraudulently claiming Parliamentary expenses.

He became the first politician to get a criminal conviction in connection with the expenses scandal when he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to three charges of false accounting.

Chaytor, 61, had previously denied the charges and was due to stand trial at London's Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

But he changed his plea today at the Old Bailey.

The move came after legal challenges to stop the trial failed.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court published its reasons for rejecting a claim by Chaytor and two other former MPs that criminal proceedings against them would infringe parliamentary privilege.

Chaytor, a former lecturer, was MP for Bury North, a seat he had held since 1997, when the expenses scandal broke last year.

At the time, he apologised "unreservedly" for what he called an "unforgivable error in my accounting procedures".

He referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, and was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Hundreds of MPs were ordered to repay a total of 1.12 million in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Chaytor was charged in February this year.

He faces a maximum of seven years jail, but is expected to receive a more lenient sentence because of his guilty plea.

Three other former MPs, including Livingston MP Jim Devine, and two members of the House of Lords were also charged by police in relation to their expenses and are due to face trial later.