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| Margaret Moran took £53K in false MP expenses | Margaret Moran took £53K in false MP expenses |
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| Ex-Labour Luton MP Margaret Moran falsely claimed more than £53,000 in expenses while in office, a jury has ruled. | Ex-Labour Luton MP Margaret Moran falsely claimed more than £53,000 in expenses while in office, a jury has ruled. |
| The 57-year-old was tried in her absence at Southwark Crown Court after she was deemed unfit to stand trial. | The 57-year-old was tried in her absence at Southwark Crown Court after she was deemed unfit to stand trial. |
| She was accused of 15 counts of false accounting and six of using a false instrument over the claims. | She was accused of 15 counts of false accounting and six of using a false instrument over the claims. |
| The former Luton South MP, who lives in St Denys, Southampton, served in the Commons between 1997 and 2010. | The former Luton South MP, who lives in St Denys, Southampton, served in the Commons between 1997 and 2010. |
| Jurors were unable to return a guilty verdict because of Moran's illness but in a trial of issue, the jury found that she had committed 15 counts of false accounting and six counts of using a false instrument over the claims for parliamentary expenses. | |
| The court had heard that she was able to make a dry rot claim of £22,500 by "flipping" her two homes - changing which property was her second home and therefore allowing her to claim expenses on it. | |
| She also changed dates on invoices for the work so that the money would be paid. | |
| One invoice in August 2007 was for £14,805 - apparently for boiler repairs and work on her conservatory in her constituency home in Luton, when it was actually her home in Southampton, the court heard. | |
| Another fake bill for more than £4,000 used an address for a building firm but the property actually belonged to an elderly couple. | |
| She also claimed for three bedroom carpets at her one-bedroom Westminster flat, and £2,000 for a landline phone when it did not have one. | |
| James Sturman QC, defending, said the case represented "a very, very unhappy period for British democracy". | |
| The case was brought to light in May 2009 during an investigation into MPs' expenses by the Daily Telegraph. | |
| The judge is expected to sentence Moran at a future hearing. |