Former Ukip MEP in fraud trial said doing expenses was 'a bit of a burden'

A former Ukip MEP accused of filing dodgy travel expenses had genuine claims for flights and staff costs which were never submitted, a court has heard.

Nikki Sinclaire, who represented the West Midlands region in Brussels and Strasbourg until 2014, is currently on trial for allegedly submitting "significant" expenses claims she knew to be false, according to the prosecution.

However, it emerged during her Birmingham Crown Court trial that on several occasions no claims were filed for a genuine human rights trip to Cyprus, and for travel by her own staff to the European Parliament.

Sinclaire accepted that she signed-off many of the 10 incorrect claims but told the jury "embarrassingly" she was simply too busy with constituency work to pay attention to the detail of the claims.

She also claimed that in at least one of the travel claims she had "concerns" the signature was even hers, the day after jurors were told of an allegation of a "mole" working in her office.

Her lawyers say Sinclaire did not deliberately sign-off incorrect claims to gain financially, and have alleged the total amount she could have made was "about 3,000 euro" - £2,465.

Instead, it is alleged by Sinclaire that compiling expenses claims was dealt with by her office staff, while she signed them off.

On Friday last week, her barrister Sean Hammond cross-examined Sinclaire's former aide John Ison - a key prosecution witness - with Ison accepting he was acting as "a spy or a mole" inside his employer's office.

Mr Ison also accepted making 30-40 hours of covert recordings of Sinclaire, and regularly passing sensitive information on her to party chiefs including Nigel Farage during 2009/10, "for the good of the party" during a dispute between herself and some of the Ukip hierarchy .

On being elected in 2009, Sinclaire left the party in January 2010 - she failed to gain re-election in 2014.

At one stage in his evidence Mr Ison used the legal privilege of declining to answer Mr Hammond's question on whether he had breached the Computer Misuse Act by installing spyware on Sinclaire's laptop, so as to avoid risking incriminating himself.

During her evidence on Monday, Sinclaire was taken back to October 10, 2009, and claims signed by her which alleged she had driven from Solihull to Stoke-on-Trent, when in fact she was in Cyprus.

Sinclaire confirmed she was on the island in connection with her membership of the parliament's human rights' committee, to investigate Greek Cypriots missing since the 1974 Turkish invasion.

The ex-MEP, who also accepted signing-off the road travel claim, explained she was busy with her political work and "never paid enough attention".

"Submitting these expenses claims was a bit of a burden," she added.

Asked by her barrister Sean Hammond, if she accepted she was "negligent in not fact-checking", Sinclaire replied: "I do, yes."

But Sinclaire said she simply "copied over the information provided" by her office staff to make these and other claims, and had no idea it was incorrect.

She added: "It looks absolutely ridiculous to me.

"It sounds fantastical but it's the truth.

"It is impossible for me to check absolutely everything, but it's wrong for that day."

Mr Hammond then asked if she had dishonestly and deliberately filled out any claims to make a financial gain, to which Sinclaire replied: "No."

He then asked Sinclaire if a claim - which would have been genuine - was made for the air travel to and from Cyprus.

She replied: "As it turned out, no it wasn't."

Mr Hammond said: "So not only did the office submit ferry receipts incorrectly, they failed to prepare properly the claim to be reimbursed for the trip to Cyprus?"

Sinclaire replied: "That's correct."

The 47-year-old claimed she subsidised her office costs from her own parliamentary salary, because getting around her five million-strong constituency out-stripped the EU budget provided to her and other MEPs for such work.

She said she adopted the practice "to highlight the inactivity of other MEPs", but that in effect she was worse-off financially as a result.

Sinclaire, of Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands, denies misconduct in a public office between October 1 2009 and July 31 2010 while a serving member of the European Parliament by making or causing to be made false or dishonest claims for travel expenses.

She further denies a charge that between October 14, 2009 and December 31, 2010 she fraudulently transferred criminal property into her bank account.

The trial continues.

PA