R v Chaytor, Morley, Devine and White

The Supreme Court has ruled that three former MPs must face a criminal trial over their expenses claims.  The nine justices hearing the case unanimously rejected arguments that the MPs benefited from parliamentary privilege and therefore charges of theft by false accounting should be heard by Parliament.  Lord Phillips, the President, held that scrutiny of expenses claims by the Courts "will have no adverse impact on the core or essential business of Parliament ... the only thing that it will inhibit is the making of dishonest claims".  Lord Pannick QC and James Segan successfully represented the Crown in the Supreme Court, as well as at earlier hearings in the Court of Appeal and Crown Court.