A British member of the European Parliament suffered a "massive fall from grace" today when he was jailed for nine-months for falsely claiming benefits of more than £65,000.
But 71-year-old Hampshire MEP Ashley Mote, a former Ukip representative, will retain his seat in Europe because he would only have been disqualified if he had received a term of imprisonment of more than 12 months.
The father-of-two, who is an MEP for Alton and lives in Binstead, was found guilty of 21 offences following a four-week trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.
During sentencing, Judge Richard Price told Mote: "To say that this case has ruined you is an understatement, it is a tragedy.
"You have worked amazingly hard as an MEP. Nevertheless, the charges of which you have been convicted can only be met by a custodial sentence, nothing else would be appropriate."
The offences, totalling £65,506, occurred between February 1996 and September 2002 while Mote was living in Langley, West Sussex.
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