Former MP found guilty of electoral fraud

A former Tory MP has been found guilty of tricking elderly constituents into signing electoral forms backing Ukip candidates in local elections.

Bob Spink was accused of submitting false signatures on nomination papers in April 2016. He was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of four counts of electoral fraud and will be sentenced in the New Year.

James Parkin, 39, Ukip’s election agent at the time, was found guilty of two counts of the same offence, and found not guilty of three. He had already admitted two counts.