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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Four due in court over expenses | Four due in court over expenses |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are due in court to face charges related to their expenses claims. | Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are due in court to face charges related to their expenses claims. |
| Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor, along with Lord Hanningfield, will deny false accounting when they appear before Westminster magistrates. | Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor, along with Lord Hanningfield, will deny false accounting when they appear before Westminster magistrates. |
| Police began investigating after details of all MPs' expenses claims were leaked to a national newspaper. | Police began investigating after details of all MPs' expenses claims were leaked to a national newspaper. |
| The BBC understands Labour MP Harry Cohen is also being investigated over his expenses. | The BBC understands Labour MP Harry Cohen is also being investigated over his expenses. |
| But BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said no file on the Leyton and Wanstead MP had been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. | But BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said no file on the Leyton and Wanstead MP had been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. |
| Rules breached | Rules breached |
| Mr Cohen has already been reprimanded for his second home expenses claims after a separate inquiry by the parliamentary standards commissioner. | Mr Cohen has already been reprimanded for his second home expenses claims after a separate inquiry by the parliamentary standards commissioner. |
| He is standing down at the general election but has been told he will not get a "resettlement grant" paid to retiring MPs - which in his case would have been worth about £65,000 - after breaching expenses rules. | He is standing down at the general election but has been told he will not get a "resettlement grant" paid to retiring MPs - which in his case would have been worth about £65,000 - after breaching expenses rules. |
| Labour MP Harry Cohen is stepping down at the election | Labour MP Harry Cohen is stepping down at the election |
| The Leyton and Wanstead MP had claimed more than £70,000 for a "second home" in his constituency - which is within greater London - while at times renting out his "main home" in Colchester. | The Leyton and Wanstead MP had claimed more than £70,000 for a "second home" in his constituency - which is within greater London - while at times renting out his "main home" in Colchester. |
| Mr Cohen was ordered to apologise to Parliament - he had argued his wife's serious illness had meant they had to spend more time in the constituency. | Mr Cohen was ordered to apologise to Parliament - he had argued his wife's serious illness had meant they had to spend more time in the constituency. |
| Police have not named him as one of the "small number of cases" which are still either being considered by a joint police-CPS panel or being investigated. | Police have not named him as one of the "small number of cases" which are still either being considered by a joint police-CPS panel or being investigated. |
| Mr Morley, Mr Devine, Mr Chaytor and Lord Hanningfield will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court after being charged with false accounting last month in relations to their expenses claims. | Mr Morley, Mr Devine, Mr Chaytor and Lord Hanningfield will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court after being charged with false accounting last month in relations to their expenses claims. |
| Lord Hanningfield: "I'm sure it's all going to work out fine in the end" | |
| The four face charges of false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968. If found guilty they face a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment. | The four face charges of false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968. If found guilty they face a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment. |
| At the time charges were brought, the three MPs said they "totally refute any charges that we have committed an offence". | At the time charges were brought, the three MPs said they "totally refute any charges that we have committed an offence". |
| Lord Hanningfield told the BBC on Thursday morning he was confident he would be cleared: "I've given 40 years of voluntary service unpaid to this community, Essex and the public, saved them millions of pounds. I've done nothing dishonest." |