A CONSERVATIVE peer cheated the public out of £11,277 by falsely claiming that he lived in the Oxford home of a distant relative, a court was told.

Lord Taylor of Warwick allegedly exploited the House of Lords’ expenses system by registering the house as his main residence, when it actually belonged to his step-nephew’s partner.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court in London were told the 58-year-old peer went on to submit a series of false claims for overnight accommodation and petrol when in reality he had spent the night at his home in Ealing, West London.

Helen Law, prosecuting, said the house in Henley Street, East Oxford, was owned by Dr Tristram Wyatt, a university academic.

Robert Taylor, the peer’s step-nephew, told the court yesterday that he was “shocked, quite angry, actually” when he learned Lord Taylor had apparently used his address on his expenses claim forms.

Dr Wyatt told the court that he would have said no if asked by Lord Taylor whether he could say the house was his main place of residence.

The prosecution alleges that the peer made claims for nights spent in London and travel between London and Oxford from March 2006 to October 2007.

Lord Taylor denies six charges of false accounting on March 31, July 3 and October 31, 2006, and April 5, July 3 and October 31, 2007.

The trial continues.