Expenses cheat Denis MacShane blames judge for 'being in love with prison sentences'

 
Jailed: Denis MacShane (Picture: PA)
Joseph Watts3 November 2014
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Disgraced former MP Denis MacShane has launched a stunning attack on the judge who sent him to serve his sentence in a high-security prison.

The former Labour MP claimed that Mr Justice Sweeney made mistakes in his case and only jailed him because “he was in love with prison sentences”.

Mr MacShane, one of several MPs jailed over the Commons expenses scandal, also attacked the top CPS lawyer-turned-Labour-candidate who led the CPS when he was prosecuted.

While admitting that the expense claims he made were wrong, he lashed out at the prison service and “friends” in Parliament whom he claims pushed for him to be prosecuted just “to make an example” of him.

In an exclusive interview with Chris Blackhurst for London Live, to be screened tomorrow, he also spoke about his time in HMP Belmarsh.

The former MP was jailed after pleading guilty to false accounting and claiming for “research and translation” services of nearly £13,000.

On being asked why he was sent to the high-security Belmarsh, he said: “There was a judge who was notorious for being in love with prison sentences, who had already sent down political people. It was great publicity for him. I was number three or four on the news items that evening.”

He said his expenses were for legitimate work, but because the system would not allow costs incurred outside the UK to be reimbursed, he orchestrated a “short cut” to get the money back. While he admitted it was “dumb, stupid [and] wrong”, he claimed he had made no personal gain.

He attacked MPs from “a mixture” of parties, whom he said had pushed for him to be prosecuted despite the CPS having already taken a decision not to follow up his case.

Mr MacShane said: “The judge, everybody, said I made no personal gain. But the way I did it was wrong and I’m not complaining about it. The police investigated me for 20 months, the CPS investigated me, they decided no prosecution, it wasn’t serious enough. Then it got back into the Commons, and political ‘friends’, shall we say, decided they would make an example of me.”

He then suggested that Keir Starmer, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, who is standing as a Labour candidate for Parliament, was wrong to prosecute him, calling him “very political, very celebrity-focused”.

Both the judiciary and Mr Starmer declined to comment.

The former MP also told how he spent Christmas behind bars, had his possessions taken from him on his first day and was strip-searched, but survived after being taken under the wing of a “serious criminal”.

In a bizarre anecdote, he said he was wrongly registered as “Ian MacShane”, similar to the actor’s name, leading to visitors being told that there was no Denis MacShane at the prison.

He also lashed out at the prison system, claiming it was “preposterous” that taxpayers had to spend £1,000 a week to lock him up.

The Headline Interview with Denis MacShane is on London Live on Tuesday 4th November at 1pm. Watch it on Freeview channel 8, stream it live, or catch up on londonlive.co.uk

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