Lord Taylor found guilty of false accounting

Tuesday, 25 January 2011 4:32 PM

By politics.co.uk staff

The expenses row claimed another victim today after Lord Taylor was found guilty of false accounting.

The peer was accused of claiming travel costs between London and a home in Oxford, as well as for travel allowance, when he was staying in the capital.

The 58-year-old was found guilty of six counts of expenses fraud, making £11,277 in false claims.

"It is Lord Taylor alone, and not the system, that is on trial," said Helen Law, prosecuting, in her closing statement.

"Even if Lord Taylor was telling you the truth when he said that other people were doing the same as him, even if there were others doing the same - that's not a defence.

"It was a lightly-policed scheme, open to abuse. Lord Taylor knew that, and he used it."

The Southwark crown court jury issued a majority verdict.

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