Ex-MEP 'fiddled expenses to clear his debts'

A former MEP fiddled tens of thousands of pounds in expenses to buy fine wines and clear debts, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Tom Wise, 61, who used to represent Ukip but is now an independent, and Lindsay Jenkins, 62, deny false accounting and using criminal property.

The first charge claims the pair "falsified a document namely a contract for the provision of services and an application for secretarial assistance allowance and invoices" between December 14, 2004, and December 14 the following year.

The second alleges that during the same period the East of England MEP and his co-defendant received money "from the European Parliament intended for use as payments for secretarial services".

Wise, of Ship Road, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, and Jenkins, of Queens Club Gardens, west Kensington, west London, will be tried at London's Southwark Crown Court. Both are on bail.