Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine were accused under theft laws of illegally claiming almost £60,000 of taxpayers’ money in expenses. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted of the offences.

They have employed leading constitutional lawyers to argue that their conduct cannot be tried in a criminal court and that only Parliament can discipline them.
It is feared that the prosecution case against them could be delayed by months of legal wrangling over whether the MPs are right to assert that their actions are covered by parliamentary privilege.
A source close to the case said: “They will attempt to have their cases thrown out before they come to full jury trial.”
On Friday, in an unprecedented statement, Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, announced that 13 separate charges of theft by false accounting had been brought against the three MPs and one peer – Lord Hanningfield.
The accused politicians have all been summoned to appear at City of Westminster magistrates’ court on March 11, less than a month before the expected start of the general election campaign.
(Source :BB