Hotel claim peer ‘was on plane’

Lord HanningfieldLord Hanningfield has said he made the claims in good faith

A Conservative peer is due to go on trial accused of fiddling his parliamentary expenses.

Lord Hanningfield, 70, faces six charges of false accounting between March 2006 and May 2009.

He is accused of claiming overnight allowances for London accommodation when records allegedly show he was driven home to Chelmsford, Essex.

The former leader of Essex County Council will appear before Chelmsford Crown Court under his name Paul White.

Lord Hanningfield was charged in February last year.

He was suspended from the Parliamentary Conservative Party and stood down as a frontbench business spokesman in the House of Lords and as leader of Essex County Council.

He said at the time that the accommodation claims had been made in good faith.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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