The only Scottish MP jailed for fiddling his expenses has walked free after serving just four months.
Jim Devine, who was sentenced to 16 months in March, was released from Standford Hill Prison in Kent after completing a quarter of his sentence.
The former Labour MP for Livingston was branded a liar by his trial judge after being found guilty of submitting false invoices totalling £8385 between 2008 and 2009.
The 58-year-old was freed on Monday under the home detention curfew scheme, which allows prisoners who pose a low risk to be tagged and released early after serving at least a quarter of their sentence.
Dundee West MP Jim McGovern had provided a character reference in court for his former colleague, who he described as a “good, hard-working” politician.
Devine is one of six parliamentarians four former Labour MPs and two peers to have been jailed for expenses fraud.
Eric Illsley and David Chaytor have already been tagged and released under the same scheme.
The fourth ex-MP, Elliot Morley, remains in prison, along with Conservative peers Lord Taylor and Lord Hanningfield.
A Labour Party spokesman last night moved to distance the party from the disgraced Scottish politician.
“Jim Devine was excluded from the Labour Party some time ago.”
A Prison Service spokeswoman said, “A home detention curfew (HDC) is available to low-risk prisoners serving sentences of more than three months and less than four years, who are deemed appropriate for early release.
“To be placed on HDC, a prisoner must have served a quarter of their sentence and have spent a minimum of 30 days in prison.”Hollow gestureEmma Boon, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said releasing Devine early made his sentence look like a “hollow gesture and will do nothing to help restore public faith in parliament.”
Devine told his Southwark Crown Court trial that he was acting on advice given with a “nod and a wink” by a fellow MP in a House of Commons bar.
His defence was rejected by the jury and trial judge Mr Justice Saunders said he had been “lying in significant parts of the evidence he gave.”
“Mr Devine made his false claims at a time when he well knew the damage that was being caused to parliament by the expenses scandal but he carried on regardless,” he added.
Devine tried to blame former office manager Marion Kinley, claiming she had paid herself more than £5000 from his staffing allowance without his knowledge.
He will be on home detention curfew for the next four months before spending the next eight months on probation.
He was declared bankrupt in April, following a separate hearing at Livingston Sheriff Court. The insolvency order was made after he failed to pay Ms Kinley £35,000 for unfair dismissal.
Illsley (56), jailed for a year in February for fiddling £14,500 in expenses, was released in May.
He dishonestly obtained an average of £100 a week more than he was entitled to over a three-year period.
Chaytor (61) was sentenced to 18 months in prison in January, and served four-and-a-half months, after admitting he fiddled his parliamentary expenses to falsely claim more than £22,000 of taxpayers’ money.