Expenses scandal MP David Chaytor to appeal against sentence

The former Labour MP David Chaytor is to challenge his 18-month prison sentence for falsely claiming parliamentary expenses.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, and two other judges will hear an application by 61-year-old Chaytor at the Court of Appeal on 22 March. If they grant permission to appeal on that day they will go on to hear the full challenge. The prosecution will also be represented.

Another Labour MP convicted over the expenses scandal has been declared bankrupt. Jim Devine is awaiting sentence for submitting false invoices for cleaning and printing work totalling £8,385. A request for sequestration, or bankruptcy, was granted at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday, after he failed to pay his former office manager, Marion Kinley, £35,000 for unfair dismissal.

During his trial, Devine tried to claim that Ms Kinley paid herself more than £5,000 from his staffing allowance without his knowledge. Ms Kinley was awarded £35,000 by an employment tribunal in Edinburgh on 14 October. Devine was ordered to pay £25,000 for loss of earnings and pension, with the remainder covering unpaid mileage which his former employee said he claimed but failed to pass on to her.