A disgraced former Tory peer will remain in the House of Lords despite being jailed for 12 months for expenses fraud.

Lord Taylor of Warwick, 58, lied under oath during his trial in an attempt to cover up fraudulent claims of more than £11,000 in taxpayers' money, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He told the House of Lords members' expenses office that his main residence was a house in Oxford, when in fact he lived in west London.

The peer never stayed in, and only twice visited, the Oxford property, which was owned by the partner of his half-nephew, Robert Taylor.

He was therefore not entitled to claim money from the Lords authorities for travelling from there to London and staying overnight in the capital.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saunders said Lord Taylor had thrown away his many positive achievements in public life "not by one stupid action but by a protracted course of dishonesty".

The judge condemned the lies told by the shamed peer to cover up his £11,277.80-worth of false parliamentary expenses claims for travel and overnight subsistence between March 2006 and October 2007.

These included false claims to journalists investigating his expenses that he lived with his poorly mother until 2007, when in fact she died six years earlier.

It can be revealed that about 15 fellow peers - including Lord Clarke of Hampstead, a former chairman of the Labour Party - refused to give evidence to support Lord Taylor's defence.

Lord Taylor is expected to begin his sentence at Wandsworth Prison in south London, but he could be freed after serving just three months of his sentence under early release rules for non-violent prisoners who pose a low risk.