LibDem donor jailed for dishonesty
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The Liberal Democrats' biggest donor was jailed for two years today for what a judge branded "very deliberate and pointed" dishonesty.
The flamboyant financier Michael Brown, 40, first gave false information in a affidavit and then tricked the authorities into giving him a new passport.
The Glaswegian bonds trader, whose £2.4 million political gift last year helped the party to bankroll its general election campaign, was eventually tracked to Majorca earlier this year.
Dozens of Spanish and UK detectives descended on the villa he shares with his wife Sharon in Esporlas, on the island's west coast, and arrested him as he celebrated his 40th birthday, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.
A few hours after he was led away, guests had been due to arrive at a party he planned for himself.
The goatee-bearded multi-millionaire, who also owns another villa on the island as well as a home in Dover Street, Mayfair, central London, pleaded guilty to one count of perjury and another of passport deception.