Former MP Elliot MorleyYesterday, when the Sunday Times and the Metro both falsely reported that Elliot Morley is sharing a cell in Wandsworth with Lord Taylor, I exclusively reported that Elliot Morley was actually in Ford open prison.
Today, the Daily Mirror reports:
Shamed £31,000 expenses MP moved to cushy open prison after just two weeks
EXCLUSIVE by Justin Penrose, Crime Correspondent 12/06/2011
He was sent to tough Wandsworth Prison when he was found guilty of swindling taxpayers out of £31,000 in false mortgage claims.
Yet just two weeks after he was sentenced former MP Elliot Morley has already been moved to a cushy open prison.
The former Environment Minister got 16 months for Britain’s worst parliamentary expenses fraud after claiming the cash in false payments and interest.
Our exclusive pictures show him strolling to lunch alongside a prison chaplain from the workshop where he earns £7 a week at Ford Prison, in Arundel, West Sussex.
Later in the day Morley, 58, joined other inmates as they marched back to the main jail carrying his prison-issue boots.
The former Labour MP for Scunthorpe was sent to Wandsworth, South West London, on May 20. But two weeks later he was transferred to Ford – a move most prisoners have to wait months for.
A prison source said: “There has definitely been preferential treatment here. Most cons have to wait ages to work their way down the security ladder and somebody getting 16 months would have to wait at least three or four months before being transferred.
“It hasn’t gone down well with the other prisoners to say the least. But you wouldn’t know that he’s getting preferential treatment as he just looks so miserable all the time.”
Morley refused to resign as an MP when he was accused of fraud but did not stand for re-election last year. This week he became the first person since 1921 to be removed from the Privy Council, which advises the Queen.
After more than a year of denials, he admitted fraudulently claiming £31,000 of expenses by saying he was paying more mortgage interest than he was and continuing to claim after his home loan had been paid off.
Southwark Crown Court was told he had been suffering depression when he made the claims because of the stress of his job, made worse when he was sacked from his post a minister.
Morley attempted to avoid prosecution by claiming he was protected by parliamentary privilege, but that was rejected by the Supreme Court. He has repaid £36,000 and been stripped of the £64,000 re-settlement grant for former MPs.
Comment: Not only did the Daily Mirror falsely claim an exclusive on this story, it also claims that the photo is an exclusive when the same photo appears in the hard copy of today's Daily Telegraph!
Daily Mirror take note an exclusive is the first to publish! Moreover, you should give credit where credit is due as you or your agents have obviously read the story on my blog first!
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