End of the Road
Lord Hanningfield - the 70 year old Tory peer jailed for nine months for fiddling his expenses - lost the right to appeal against his conviction the other day.
Apparently the old crook wanted to argue that the trial judge had misdirected the jury at his original hearing - and that insufficient weight had been given to his 'genuine' belief - that he was perfectly entitled to make the claims he made.
But at the Court of Appeal in London - three judges (Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Blake) threw his case out - on the grounds that it had no merit.
Lord Hanningfield was the only expense fiddling politician to appeal against his guilty verdict - and has cleary wasted even more time and public money - pursuing baseless appeals to the higher courts.
Now he has just got to get on with it - and do his porridge.
Apparently the old crook wanted to argue that the trial judge had misdirected the jury at his original hearing - and that insufficient weight had been given to his 'genuine' belief - that he was perfectly entitled to make the claims he made.
But at the Court of Appeal in London - three judges (Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Blake) threw his case out - on the grounds that it had no merit.
Lord Hanningfield was the only expense fiddling politician to appeal against his guilty verdict - and has cleary wasted even more time and public money - pursuing baseless appeals to the higher courts.
Now he has just got to get on with it - and do his porridge.
