BINSTED-based independent MEP Ashley Mote was found guilty of 21 charges of benefit fraud - totalling £73,000 - at Portsmouth Crown Court last Friday. Mr Mote, 71, a member of the European Parliament's committee on budgetary control, used the cash to fund an "extravagant lifestyle", which included Caribbean holidays, private health care and swish restaurant dinners. The father of two was found guilty of eight charges of false accounting, eight of obtaining a money transfer by deception, four of evading liability and one of failing to notify a change of circumstances. He was, however, found not guilty of a further four charges in the case brought by the Department of Work and Pensions. During the four-week trial, the jury heard that Mr Mote ran a once successful business that perished during 1992's 'Black Wednesday', and the pound's subsequent withdrawal from the exchange rate mechanism. Mr Mote's website claims that the right-wing MEP began his own "international marketing business" in 1972, "helping major industrial companies to increase their export business". At its peak, the company had offices in Houston, Atlanta, Geneva and London, but the "foolhardy" actions of the Tory government forced interest rates to 15 per cent and "destroyed" his business, "along with 100,000 others". Consequently, Mr Mote claimed income support, housing benefits and assistance with council tax payments, but failed to inform the authorities when he began to earn money through various enterprises. These included spread betting on currency markets during the period between February 1996 and September 2002: a spell where Mr Mote amassed some £73,000 in benefits, which was used to pay off credit card debts and fund a lavish lifestyle. Judge Richard Price adjourned sentencing until August 31, but hinted that Mr Mote faces a custodial sentence. Mr Mote was released on bail, and forced to surrender his UK and diplomatic passports. Elected to the European Parliament as a United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) MEP in June 2004, Mr Mote saw the whip withdrawn a month later after the party learned of allegations of housing benefit fraud. Continuing to represent the South East of England as its "only independent MEP", Mr Mote caused controversy in January of this year when he allied himself with far-right MEPs to form the 'Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty' group - labelled "neo- fascist" by The Guardian. UKIP's leader, Nigel Farage was delighted with the verdict and said in a statement: "We are pleased that finally, justice has been done. "Mr Mote lied to UKIP on his application form to be an MEP candidate. If we had discovered just one week earlier that this case was pending he would never have been elected an MEP. "Subsequent to our discovering the truth, Mr Mote was immediately removed from the party and never took his seat as a UKIP MEP. "UKIP and the voters of the South East have been defrauded for three years by Mr Mote. It is simply appalling that Mote claimed European immunity from prosecution and thus dragged this out for three years. "Perhaps even worse is that he was able to get reporting restrictions on this case so that this is the first time the public have known the truth and I have even been able to discuss the case in public. "Hopefully, Mr Mote will shortly be replaced with a UKIP MEP for south-east England." Consequently, Mr Mote issued a statement on his website. "As is now widely known, the jury in my court case returned 21 guilty verdicts and four not-guilty. "My legal team is already working on an appeal against the convictions. I am told this process may take some time. Meanwhile, I am advised to say nothing more about the case itself."