Jailed Tory peer loses expenses conviction appeal (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) &ndash; A jailed former Conservative peer who was convicted for fiddling his parliamentary expenses has lost an appeal against the ruling. Paul White, known as Lord Hanningfield, was found guilty in May of six counts of false accounting after claiming nearly £14,000 for overnight stays in <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/mlb-hats-c-20.html"><strong>mlb hat</strong></a> London when he was somewhere else. He was jailed for nine months on July 1 at Maidstone Crown Court. At the Court of Appeal in London on Wednesday, Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Blake rejected White's application for permission to appeal the conviction and said the proposed grounds were &quot;unarguable&quot;. The main <a href="http://www.newerahatstock.com/"><strong>new era cap 59fifty</strong></a> argument put forward for Lord Hanningfield, who was not in court, was that the trial judge misdirected the jury as to the mental element in his defence, which was that he believed he was entitled to do as he did as it was the accepted custom and practice of the Lords. But Lord Justice Hughes said: &quot;We are entirely satisfied that, however sad the background to this case may be, and however sad may be the end of what was otherwise a distinguished career in public service, this jury did receive an accurate direction in law. &quot;It faced, and had to face, the question of whether it believed or rejected the defendant's assertions of belief and, sadly, it is plain that it rejected them.&quot; Following White's trial at Chelmsford Crown Court Mr Justice Saunders said White would be remembered partly as a &quot;benefits cheat&quot;. But passing sentence the judge said he took into account the ill health of the 70-year-old former Es###### County Council leader who had been diagnosed with clinical depression. During <a href="http://www.newerahatstock.com/"><strong>wholeslae new era hats</strong></a> his trial the former pig farmer from West Hanningfield, near Chelmsford, told jurors he treated the Lords expenses for staying overnight in London as an allowance for living outside the capital and spent just &quot;a minute a month&quot; completing his claim forms. He insisted his parliamentary duties left him thousands of pounds out of pocket and said he &quot;averaged out&quot; his claims to recoup some of the money he spent. White was the sixth parliamentarian to be imprisoned for fraud following the expenses scandal which rocked British politics in 2009. Also <a href="http://dynastes.dy.funpic.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=75095#75095"><strong>Hezbollah commander could be transferred in days (AP)</strong></a> jailed before before him were ex-Tory peer Lord Taylor and former Labour MPs Eric Illsley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Elliot Morley.