David Chaytor gets justice

Ex-Labour MP David Chaytor has been jailed for 18 months for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses. Chaytor, 61, the former MP for Bury North, last month admitted three charges of false accounting. He submitted bogus invoices for IT consultancy work and claimed rent he never paid on homes owned by his family, the court was told. His lawyer James Sturman QC said he was a "broken man" who had paid a "devastating price" for the claims. The former MP is now facing a large legal bill for both his defence and the costs of bringing the prosecution against him. Chaytor made the false expenses claims in order to "siphon off" public money to which he was not entitled, the court heard. Sentencing him Mr Justice Saunders said the 2009 MPs' expenses scandal had "shaken public confidence in the legislature and angered the public".