Judge: "Deliberate" and "prolonged dishonesty" by MacShane

Former Labour minister Denis MacShane has been jailed for six months at the Old Bailey after admitting making bogus expense claims amounting to nearly £13,000.

The ex-Rotherham MP previously pleaded guilty to false accounting by filing 19 fake receipts for "research and translation" services.

The court heard that MacShane incurred "genuine expenses" for similar amounts which he chose to recoup by dishonest false accounting rather than through legitimate claims.

Mr Sweeney said: "However chaotic your general paperwork was, there was deliberate, oft repeated and prolonged dishonesty over a period of years - involving a flagrant breach of trust and consequent damage to Parliament."

The judge said he had considered a number of mitigating features, including MacShane's guilty plea, and that the offences were "not committed out of greed or for personal profit".

MacShane had suffered "a long period of public humiliation" and carried out the offences "at a time of turmoil" in his personal life, Mr Sweeney said.

The court heard that MacShane and his wife divorced in 2003, his daughter Clare was killed in an accident in March 2004, his mother died in 2006 and his former partner, newsreader Carol Barnes - Clare's mother - died in 2008.

The judge also considered his previous good character and that the money had been paid back.