Former Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield has been jailed for nine months for fiddling his parliamentary expenses as a judge said his mental health had suffered as a result of his trial.
Hanningfield, 70, an ex-Lords opposition frontbencher and leader of Essex county council, falsely claimed £13,379 for overnight stays in London when he was not in the capital.
During his trial the jury heard he regularly claimed for staying overnight in London, including on one occasion in February 2008 when he was actually on board a flight to India.
He also fraudulently claimed £382 in train fares, and £147 in mileage by doubling the seven-mile distance from his house to the train station.
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