UK Edition
Former Tory MP Bob Spink found guilty of electoral fraud
A former Tory MP has been found guilty of tricking elderly voters into signing electoral forms backing Ukip candidates in local elections.
Bob Spink, who served as Tory MP for Castle Point in Essex for five years before defecting to Ukip in 2008, was accused of submitting false signatures on nomination papers in April 2016.
At the time Dr Spink was standing for election as the local Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), after losing his seat in 2010.
He has been 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.
Jurors heard how Dr Spink tricked "elderly and infirm" voters into signing the forms, without making it clear what the documents were or which party he represented.
The court heard people in Dr Spink's constituency signed forms believing they were petitions, and having no idea they were supporting the Ukip candidate in the Castle Point Borough Council elections.
Dr Spink said everything was above board, that residents knew what they were signing, and that he only introduced the topic of the local elections once he had had gained their support for his campaign to become a police and crime commissioner (PCC).
A police investigation into the Castle Point Borough Council elections began before polling day when a resident called Rupert Duke discovered his name had been added to a nomination form for a Ukip candidate called Lucy Parkin - who was a relative by marriage of the younger defendant, of Canvey Island in Essex.
Mr Duke told police he had never signed the form as he was a Tory voter "and would never have had anything to do with Ukip".
Tom Nicholson, the prosecutor, quoted local residents whose signatures appeared on nomination forms apparently backing Ms Parkin as a Ukip local election candidate, who said Dr Spink and another man believed to be Dr Parkin failed "in various ways to explain properly what they were asking residents to sign".
Another said Dr Spink was canvassing for the PCC role and was unaware the form referred to the local elections, the court heard.
None of the candidates included in Dr Spink's deception won a seat on the council, although a handful finished runner-up, the court heard.