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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| MEP is jailed for benefit fraud | MEP is jailed for benefit fraud |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| An MEP for South East England has been jailed for nine months for falsely claiming benefits of more than £65,000. | An MEP for South East England has been jailed for nine months for falsely claiming benefits of more than £65,000. |
| Former UKIP MEP Ashley Mote, 71, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court after being found guilty of 21 offences following a four-week trial. | Former UKIP MEP Ashley Mote, 71, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court after being found guilty of 21 offences following a four-week trial. |
| Mote will retain his seat in Europe because he would only have been disqualified if he had received a term of imprisonment of more than 12 months. | Mote will retain his seat in Europe because he would only have been disqualified if he had received a term of imprisonment of more than 12 months. |
| The father-of-two sat as an independent MEP after being thrown out of UKIP. | The father-of-two sat as an independent MEP after being thrown out of UKIP. |
| If this man had a shred of decency or integrity left, he'd resign Nigel FarageUKIP leader | |
| During sentencing, Judge Richard Price told Mote: "To say that this case has ruined you is an understatement, it is a tragedy. | |
| "You have worked amazingly hard as an MEP. Nevertheless, the charges of which you have been convicted can only be met by a custodial sentence, nothing else would be appropriate." | |
| The court heard Mote had run a successful business which collapsed in 1992. | The court heard Mote had run a successful business which collapsed in 1992. |
| He had begun claiming income support and benefits but failed to notify the benefits agency when he began earning money again in 1996. | He had begun claiming income support and benefits but failed to notify the benefits agency when he began earning money again in 1996. |
| The offences, totalling £65,506, occurred between February 1996 and September 2002 while Mote was living in Langley, West Sussex. | |
| The court found him guilty of eight charges of false accounting, eight of obtaining a money transfer by deception, four of evading liability and one of failing to notify a change of circumstances. | The court found him guilty of eight charges of false accounting, eight of obtaining a money transfer by deception, four of evading liability and one of failing to notify a change of circumstances. |
| 'Disgusted and horrified' | |
| He was acquitted of a further four charges in the case brought by the Department for Work and Pensions. | He was acquitted of a further four charges in the case brought by the Department for Work and Pensions. |
| Mote was elected as an MEP in 2004 as a member of UKIP, which threw him out of the party just days later when the party discovered the charges against him. | |
| UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he was "disgusted and horrified" at the "leniency" of the sentence. | |
| Mr Farage said in a statement: "If he had been jailed for more than a year, the seat could have been reassigned to UKIP. | |
| "As it is, the voters in the South East will see taxpayers' money going to a man serving a prison sentence, unable to represent them. | |
| "I know it's far too much to expect, but if this man had a shred of decency or integrity left, he'd resign." |