A DEFEATED police commissioner candidate accused of electoral fraud says he is confident the allegations will be proved false.

Michael Mates, who stood unsuccessfully for the Tories in November’s election, spoke out as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed it had received a file from police.

Thames Valley Police are investigating Mr Mates for allegedly breaching electoral rules regarding his home address following a complaint from his election opponent Don Jerrard.

Police commissioner election rules stated that candidates had to live in Hampshire at the time they were nominated and the day of polling. Mr Mates, a former Tory MP for East Hampshire, has a house in West Sussex.

The electoral roll shows that Mr Mates and his wife Christine were registered as living in Christchurch Road, Winchester, on the qualifying date of October 15.

However a CPS spokesman said: “We have been passed evidence from the police in relation to this case, but this is not yet a complete file for consideration of whether or not charges should be brought.

“Further investigative inquiries are still being made and these need to be completed before we can make a charging decision. The investigation is, therefore, ongoing.”

The case is being handled within the CPS Special Crime Division.

In a statement, Mr Mates said: “There is nothing new in this story. It is eight months old and is sustained by the efforts of political opponents who have been feeding media sources.

“Allow me to reiterate the facts. Every action I took with regard to the flat I rented in Winchester for nine months was done on the advice of experts in electoral law. They were satisfied that what I did was legal and proper. There is no substance to this accusation.”

The owner of the Christchurch Road house where Michael Mates stayed before the police commissioner election has called the investigation a “fuss about nothing”.

Charlotte Tibbits said: “He was our lodger; I can’t remember exactly how long. I think it is a fuss about nothing.

“He is a friend of a friend and we happened to have a room free at that moment. It was September or October, I can’t remember, but certainly not for a long period of time. He seemed a perfectly nice person to me.

“The police should have better things to do, like catching burglars and murderers.”