A FORMER Tory peer was found guilty today of fiddling his expenses with his claim he was living in a house in Oxford.
Lord Taylor of Warwick falsely claimed for travel and overnight subsistence, a jury at Southwark Crown Court today decided by a majority of 11 to one after five hours’ deliberation.
The 58-year-old told the House of Lords members’ expenses office that his main residence was in Oxford, when he lived in west London.
Lord Taylor stood impassively in the dock as the guilty verdict on all six counts was delivered.
Lord Taylor, of Lynwood Road, Ealing, west London, was standing trial for making £11,277.80-worth of claims on various dates between March 2006 and October 2007.
During the trial, Helen Law, prosecuting, had said: “The prosecution say this case is very simple. Lord Taylor did not have a main home in Oxford and he was not entitled to claim as if he did.”
The property in Henley Street, East Oxford, was where his half-nephew Robert Taylor lived with his partner Tristram Wyatt, who owns the house.
Lord Taylor said throughout his trial that all he needed was a "family connection" to a property to call it a main residence on his claim forms.
He never stayed there, and had no legal or financial interest in it.
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