DISGRACED former Bexley Council leader and deputy London mayor, Ian Clement, has been given a suspended jail sentence for fiddling his expenses.

Clement, 44, of Heatherbank Close, Crayford, pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud when he appeared before Westminster magistrates this morning.

He had been facing five charges under sections one and two of the Fraud Act over his expenses claims while deputy London mayor, using his Greater London Authority (GLA) credit card.

Clement admitted dishonestly claiming for a £32.50 lunch with Enfield Council leader Councillor Michael Rye; a £72.50 meal with Barnet Council leader Councillor Mike Freer, and a meal with Kensington and Chelsea Council leader Councillor Merrick Cockell, costing £51.70, all between November 20 and November 26 last year, and totalling £156.70.

Two further charges of dishonestly claiming for a £65 meal with Tory MP for Chipping Barnet, Theresa Villiers on October 17 last year, and £5.90 for coffee with Cllr Cockell, on March 22 this year, were dropped.

James Sturman QC, on Clement’s behalf, told the court Clement’s theft from his employer and his misuse of his GLA credit card needed to be looked at in the context of Clement’s “perfectly legitimate use of the credit card”.

He said: “Mr Clement has thrown away his good name and his reputation and career.

“But this is not a case where a politician has massively enriched himself as a result of longstanding abuse of the system.

“He has made some extremely stupid choices for which he blames himself, and takes responsibility.

“He knows he brought it on himself.”

“He had, he thought, hundreds of friends, but he is left with a close few.”

Mr Sturman added: “It is going to take some time to pay (the court costs) because he has essentially nothing except the goodwill of his family.”

But district judge Quentin Purdy told Clement: “You must have known full well when questioned in relation to these matters, the manifest bogusness of the claims you made.

“I accept you have lost much as a result of your own wrongdoing.”

“You knew very well what was required when using a corporate credit card.

“You regarded yourself above the rules.

“Your dishonesty is now clear for all to see. It is your fault entirely.”

He added: “The public is entitled to know who is claiming its funds and they are doing so legitimately.

“You were in a position of considerable authority and you arrogantly and flagrantly abused that, with meals at the public expense.”

The district judge also praised the "diligence" of the press in exposing Clement's dishonesty.

Clement had already been warned by the district judge the offences "crossed the custody threshold".

He sentenced him to 12 weeks in jail on each of the three charges, to run concurrently and suspended for 18 months.

He also ordered Clement to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work in the community, imposed a curfew on him from 9pm to 6am for 12 weeks until December 29, and ordered him to pay £1,000 prosecution costs.

Clement, who had looked nervous throughout the hearing, appeared relieved when the sentence was announced.

Afterwards Clement said through his solicitor: “I have failed to live up to the high standards of office that were properly expected of me.

“I have given many years of dedicated public service to London, which has been my pride, my passion and my life.

"That is now over.

“There is no denial in regards to my responsibility.

“I very much regret and indeed am truly sorry for my actions and that these have let down many good people, my family, my friends and colleagues including and not least, the Mayor of London.”

After thanking his legal team and supporters, he added “I now have no further comment to make."

Mr Clement resigned as Bexley Council leader in May last year to take up newly-elected London Mayor Boris Johnson's offer of an £127,000-a-year deputy mayor's job.

The job was regarded as a reward for the work Clement had done for Mr Johnson's election campaign

But Clement was forced to resign from the GLA in June when his expenses claims were questioned and the GLA referred the matter to the Met Police for investigation.

After the discrepancies in his GLA expenses came to light, it was revealed Clement had also asked for, and been given a Bexley Council credit card, and was the only councillor ever to have had one.

Bexley Council ordered its own internal investigation which concluded there was not enough evidence to refer Clement's council expenses claims to the police.

But Clement could still face an investigation into his conduct, after Labour councillor Margaret O’Neill lodged a formal complaint with the council last Friday.

Councillor O’Neill accused Tory councillors of closing ranks at last week’s council standards committee, after all six Tory members indicated at the meeting they would not support a further investigation.

Cllr O’Neill and two independent committee members had indicated they would like a standards investigation into Clement’s possible breaches of the councillors’ code of conduct.

She said the Tories had opposed a further investigation because they believed nothing new would be uncovered and that it would cost more money.

But Cllr O'Neill said: "We think the standards committee is completely different from the audit committee which carried out the council's investigation.

"The audit committee was looking for evidence of possible fraud.

"The standards committee looks at possible breaches of the code of conduct."

She said: "The council needs to have its integrity upheld and so do each of its 63 councillors.

"It is also important for the way the citizens of Bexley think about their councillors."

Her complaint will now be considered by the council's monitoring officer who has the power to pass the complaint onto an assessment sub-committee which will decide whether or not there should be an investigation.

At the council's audit committee meeting in August, which decided not to refer matters to the police, Angela Hogan, the council’s deputy director of legal services told councillors there might have been possible breaches of the councillors' code of conduct - for bringing the council into disrepute and for failing to use Bexley's resources to fulfil the functions of the council or the position to which Clement had been appointed.

For full details of Ian Clement's GLA and Bexley Council expenses claims go to newsshopper.co.uk/news/issues