Honestly. Time for the police to be called in. Oh dear i didn’t notice £800 a month. Aye that’s shining bright.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8049096.stm

£800 a month eh…exactly what the Tax Credit people started giving me when they put a decimal point in the wrong place. What are the chances I’d have got away with saying nowt about that?

Brilliant! I grew up living just round the corner from his house. I’m not surprised he didn’t notice to be honest, he’s not the sharpest tool in the box.
Btw, MPs are only allowed to claim mortgage interest aren’t they? – so hw much would his mortgage by if the interest is £800 a month?

If he’d done that with any welfare benefit he would have been up in court, possibly facing a bit of stretch at Her Maj’s pleasure.

How can you not notice an extra £800 a month coming into your account – ignorance is not a legitimate defence.

“Elliot Morley said he felt “terrible” about the mistake getting caught”

If he’d done that with any welfare benefit he would have been up in court, possibly facing a bit of stretch at Her Maj’s pleasure.

Yep, some pretty tough talking here :

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “Sentencing is a matter for the courts but we will always seek to impose the heaviest penalties on those who steal from the taxpayer.

“If you are found guilty of benefit fraud you will end up with a criminal record and will have to pay back the money you stole.

“We have a strong record on tackling fraud in the benefit system and have reduced total benefit fraud by two thirds since 1997.

“Our message to those people considering benefit theft is simple: Don’t do it. There are no ifs, no buts – we will catch you.”

I bet that went down well with Daily Mail readers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-482346/Only-100-benefit-cheats-ends-prison.html

Wow, thought the tories had won the taking the p*ss contest but no this fella moves right up there.

Weird coincidence CrispedWheel–I grew up just round the corner from the devious git’s house myself…

wonder how much money must be passing through for him not to notice £800 extra a month

That is weird Mattie_H – we must have been neighbours.

Or possibly lived in the same house crispedwheel

You could see Eliot Morley’s house from my bedroom window. He had a bonfire party one year that ended up with fireworks flying out of his garden straight towards us. Perhaps he thought the taxman was coming.

hey give him a break he only missed the overpayments for 20 or so months, so its not as if it was over a prolonged period of time 😐

As he said in his statement, it just an oversight that slipped past him

so hw much would his mortgage by if the interest is £800 a month?

Depends – if it was in interest only mortgage backed up by an endownment policy, the £800 represents the full amount of the payment each month on the mortgage.

m_f – ok, that makes sense. The house in question is half a country hall though.

Looks like things are getting worse for him now:
More details on emerge on the story

And our other local MP, Ian Cawsey, is also in on the act.

Doesn’t Cawsey live the other side of the wall Adz?

Apparently the police are now standing guard outside his house.

MPs are only allowed to claim mortgage interest aren’t they? – so hw much would his mortgage by if the interest is £800 a month?

i’m paying £800/month interest… 🙁