Ex-ukip and Tory MP guilty of electoral fraud

A former Ukip and Tory MP has been given six months in jail, suspended for two years, after tricking elderly constituents into signing electoral forms backing local candidates.

Bob Spink, who served as Tory MP for Castle Point in Essex for five years before defecting to Ukip in 2008, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of four counts of submitting false signatures on nomination forms.

Spink, 69, of Benfleet, Essex, must also carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £5,000 in costs. James Parkin, 39, from Canvey Island, Essex, Ukip’s then election agent, was found guilty of the same offence and was given the same sentence.