Expenses Cheat MP Leaves Jail Early
01 August 2011 by Paul Rhoades
Interesting to note that convicted thief, expenses cheat and former Labour MP for Livingston, Jim Devine was today released from prison having served just 4 months of his 16 month term.
Mr Devine was jailed back in March of this year having been found guilty of fabricating invoices for cleaning and I.T. work to the value of £8,300.
With the corruption in the Met Police, Journalism and politics all being exposed through incidents such as the hacking scandal, MP expenses and the death of Ian Tomlinson, this "leniency" does nothing to temper the public contempt of the met, press, judiciary and the political classes. The government's motto of "In this together" has never been more apt, they are, we as usual just get to pay taxes, do as we are told and dare not challenge the system.
It was only through public outrage at the expenses that eventually the government decided to take a few scalps and throw 3 MPs to the wolves in what was only ever going to be the most trivial of attempts to clam the public over a hugely corrupt system which the vast majority of MP's took full advantage of.
While in prison Mr Devine complained about what he said was "unfair media coverage" and comments made about him on the internet.
Perhaps all public servants should take a leaf from Mr Devine's book, and remember that not only can social media be used to pursue their causes and promote their own objectives, it can also be used to examine their behavior, question their morals and in his case expose issues which he would like to keep hidden.
This can hardly be seen as unfair as Mr Devine was a public servant and betrayed the public's trust. Surely he should be the last to complain when his behavior is examined and discussed by those he seeks to serve?
Scunthorpe's own former MP Elliot Morley was jailed in May for expenses fraud, taking over £30,000 in mortgage payments he was not entitled for, Mr Morley was jailed for 16 months having asked for leniency citing ill health.
It will be interesting to see how much longer it will be until he is released also.
update: correction to original article, Elliot Morley was given 16 months not 18 as originally stated in the article
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Comments
Thanks for the clarification. I've updated the article accordingly.
Paul.
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