"Suicidal" Lord Hanningfield jailed for nine months for expenses theft
Lord Hanningfield has been close to suicide since his conviction for theft, a psychiatrist said today as he was sentenced to nine months in prison.
The disgraced peer and former Essex County Council leader was found guilty of falsely claiming £14,000 in parliamentary allowances in May.
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Speaking at Maidstone Crown Cort, psychiatrist professor Valerie Cowie told that court that Lord Hanningfield had been suicidal since his conviction late last month.
"He told me 'the only thing I can do is to plunge a knife into my dog and then into myself'."
She also said Lord Hanningfield had today, Friday, talked about "jumping off a high building".
Lord Hanningfield had claimed £13,379 from the House of Lords for hotel stays in London – despite being chauffeured back to his bungalow in West Hanningfield in an Essex County Council-funded car.
In his week long trial the court also heard that Lord Hanningfield, real name ‘Paul White’, had fabricated travel expenses to hide his fraudulent accommodation claims.
He falsely claimed £382 for first-class rail journeys that he never took and £147 on petrol for trips between Chelmsford train station and his home that never happened.
Sentencing him, Justice Saunders, said his work was his life and now at the age of 70 he should have been enjoying retirement and he could have expected his achievement to be honoured.
“Instead he’s been convicted of fraud by a jury drawn from the county he’d served so long.
“ And it’s as an expenses cheat that he’ll be remembered.”
4 Comments
by WithamTom
Friday, July 08 2011, 12:25PM
“A sad case. He undoubtedly did a lot of good as anyone who knows anything about his time at ECC will tell you. But at the end of the day that doesn't stop him being a crook. Prison was the only way justice could be served and just because his lawyer bleated about suicide that can't be allowed to change anything or every crook will claim to be suicidal to avoid their just deserts!!!!”
by mac1759
Thursday, July 07 2011, 9:43PM
“Not an expense cheat, he is a thief and should be investigated for the 43,000 he claimed for last year, if he his looking for sympathy it can be found in the dictionary between the obvious two! Suicide...crack on mate and do us all a favour, save us some taxes on looking after you in nick!
He should be removed from positions of trust and responsibility too, hardly a peer of society is he!”
by ganderson2011
Wednesday, July 06 2011, 3:05PM
“White (aka Hanningfield) got off lightly. He is a convicted crook and deserves to be caged for much longer.
He is utter disgrace and is most certainly not fit to serve any longer as a county councillor and he should be stripped of his knighthood.
Disturbingly, the only organisation that appears to be standing by the convicted Hanningfield is Brentwood School, where he continues to serve on this public school's board of governors. Why is Brentwood school continuing to stand by this convicted criminal ?”
by dolphindave
Friday, July 01 2011, 5:18PM
“YEA ABOUT TIME HE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN MORE TIME”