A SOUTH East Surrey MEP was jailed on Tuesday for nine months by Portsmouth Crown Court after being found guilty of benefit fraud. Binsted-based Ashley Mote was found guilty on August 17 of 21 offences including eight charges of false accounting, eight of obtaining a money transfer by deception, four of evading liability and one of failing to notify the benefits agency of his change of circumstances. The court, however, found him not guilty of a further four changes brought by the Department of Work and Pensions. The offences, which took place between February 1996 and September 2002 while he was living in Langley, West Sussex, totalled in excess of £65,000. However, because the sentence given by the judge was less than 12 months, the disgraced MEP will still retain his seat in the European Parliament. In sentencing Mr Mote, Judge Richard Price remarked that this case had been a tragedy for the defendant and that although Mr Mote had worked hard as an MEP the charges for which he had been convicted could "only be met by a custodial sentence, nothing else would be appropriate". During the four-week trial it was revealed that the 71-year-old father of two had run a successful international marketing business which he began in the early 1970s. However the business collapsed during the financial crash of 'Black Wednesday' in 1992. At this point Mr Mote began claiming housing benefit, income support and help with his council tax, but failed to inform the authorities when he began earning again. The court was told he used the money to pay off credit cards and fund a lavish lifestyle which included Caribbean holidays, private health care and meals at swanky restaurants. After Mr Mote was sentenced a number of prominent politicians have called for the Binsted- based MEP to resign including fellow South East Surrey MEP Conservative Nirj Deva. Mr Deva said: "If Ashley Mote had even a shred of decency left, he would resign from the European Parliament with immediate effect. "It is outrageous to think that, because of ridiculous rules preventing his expulsion from the European Parliament, Mote will continue to receive his tax- payer funded salary of £60,000 a year while behind bars. He has proved himself utterly unfit to hold office" Outside of politics, Mr Mote is well known in cricketing circles, being the president of the Hambledon Club, the home of English cricket. He is the author of The Glory Days of Cricket, the Extraordinary story of Broadhalfpenny Down in 1997 and has also been known to play for Headley Cricket Club.
