Four Parliamentarians due in court on expenses charges

Four Parliamentarians due in court on expenses charges

Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are due in court later to face charges in relation to their Parliamentary expenses.

Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield face charges

Labour MP Harry Cohen is stepping down at the election

Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor, along with Lord Hanningfield, will deny false accounting when they appear before Westminster magistrates.

All four deny the allegations and say they will defend themselves "robustly".

The BBC understands Labour MP Harry Cohen is also being investigated by police over his expenses.

BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said no file on the Leyton and Wanstead MP had been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Cohen, who is standing down at the election, was stripped of a £65,000 pay-off for retiring MPs after a "serious" breach of expenses rules.