Out. Thanks to Sir K and Sir K and SIr N for 6 fascinating humbling weeks and to the 100s who sent letters. Sorry journo pals. No interviews

— Denis MacShane (@DenisMacShane) February 7, 2014

Convicted fraudster MacShane was sentenced to six months in prison for defrauding taxpayers of £13,000 in forged receipts. He has served just six weeks. The law should be unsparing when lawmakers become lawbreakers – is this really justice?

UPDATE: MacShane is now comparing himself to Corrie star Bill Roache, found not guilty of sex offences yesterday. The difference: Roache was cleared of all charges and MacShane is a convicted fraudster. 

The thing about MacShane is that although he was convicted for defrauding taxpayers’ of £13,000, the true figure was in the hundreds of thousands.

Read all Guido’s stories about Denis MacShane, bon viveur, europhile extraordinaire and convicted fraudster. Now eating porridge.

Happy Christmas!

Denis MacShane is listed to be sentenced by Mr Justice Sweeney at Southwark Crown Court at 3pm today. The case for a custodial sentence is clear.

MacShane is guilty of false accounting, fiddling his expenses and defrauding taxpayers out of £12,900 in forged receipts. In November 2012 he was suspended from the Commons by the Standards and Privileges Committee, whose damning report concluded that his was “the gravest case which has come to us for adjudication”. MPs have gone down before, the authorities see MacShane as the worst of the lot.

 They found that he:

• Claimed nearly £20,000 a year in expenses for an office based in the garage of his South Yorkshire home.
• Signed claims with a “nom de plume” purporting to come from a General Manager who did not in fact exist.
• Knowingly submitted nineteen false invoices over a period of four financial years which were plainly intended to deceive the Parliamentary expenses authorities.
• Claimed thousands of pounds for eight computers that got ‘lost’ or were taken by interns.
• Claimed £12,900 for invoices from his EPI slush fund. He didn’t provide a single receipt for payments.

MacShane abused his position as a public servant, forging receipts to deceive the authorities, costing the taxpayers and constituents he was supposed to serve thousands. It is true that MacShane has pleaded guilty – usually grounds for leniency – however he did so only after being charged and presented with the incontrovertible evidence of his forgeries. All of which he previously denied, spinning the most ludicrous cock and bull story. Mr Justice Sweeney should remind lawmakers that if they become lawbreakers the law will be unsparing. Only jail time will suffice…

Guido has been hunting MacShane for years. Well today the disgraced former Labour MP finally had the decency to plead guilty to false accounting, admitting £12,900 worth of fraudulent expenses. MacShame signed his own death warrant in May 2010, when he brazenly wrote a piece for the Standard giving his top ten tips for new ministers on how to milk the benefits of high office.

In October 2010, Guido broke the news that MacShane had been kicked out of the Labour Party over suspected fraud. He had claimed £125,000 in constituency office costs for his own garage. The cops investigated and his file was handed to the CPS, with MacShane overheard crying: “Joan is leaving me and I’m going to jail”. He thought he had got away with it when the police investigation into him was dropped in 2012. His staff gave him a cake to welcome him back to the fold that included jail breaking files. He may have got lucky striking up an unlikely romance with Vicky Pryce, but that luck was about to run out.

MacShame’s reprieve only lasted a few months. In November 2012 he was suspended from the Commons by the Standards and Privileges Committee, whose damning report concluded that his was “the gravest case which has come to us for adjudication”. Labour said his career was over. A new complaint was made to the police by a Paul Staines of the Sunlight Centre for Open Politics, the cops reopened their investigation, his file was one again handed to the CPS and this time MacShane was charged. Justice may have been delayed, but today MacShane pleaded guilty. Gotcha!

You can see all Guido’s stories on MacShame here.

Good of Denis MacShane to turn up at the Old Bailey this morning, rather than, say, go on holiday like last time. Accused of submitting 19 bogus invoices worth £12,900, he will enter a plea on November 18. His trial in front of Mr Justice Sweeney, of Huhne fame, will provisionally take place on May 6 next year. Just in time for the local and European elections…

The MacShane case has been adjourned, at his request, because he is on holiday. Guido will have to try that one next time…