LONDON, UK (CMC) — Lord Taylor of Warwick, the 58 year-old former Conservative party member and its first black peer, has been jailed for 12 months for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.

He was sentenced today after he had been found guilty earlier this year of filing falsely for travel and overnight subsistence to make some six false claims amounting to more than £11,000 (US$18,135) from the taxpayers.

Lord Taylor had told the House of Lords members expenses office that his main residence was a house in Oxford so that he could claim supposed travelling and accommodation expenses. However, it was later discovered that in fact, he lived in the Ealing district of London and the house was owned by the partner of a relative and that the peer visited the place twice.

Passing sentence at Southwark Crown Court in South-east London, Justice Saunders said that Lord Taylor had lied to journalists investigating his expenses and had lied also while giving evidence on oath during his trial.

“The expenses scheme in the House of Lords was based on trust. Peers certified that their claims were accurate. They were not required to provide proof. It was considered that people who achieved a peerage could be relied on to be honest. Making false claims involved a high degree of trust,” the judge said.

John Taylor was born in Birmingham, West London to Jamaican parents – his father, Derief, was a professional cricketer for Jamaica and Warwickshire, and a well-known coach, and his mother was a nurse.

He has been married twice, both of which have ended in divorce.

A lawyer by profession, Lord Taylor was appointed to be a part-time Deputy District Judge in 1997 and achieved a number of positions and honours in the law, education, directorships in finance, communications and administration.

He featured prominently in the Conservative Party’s approach to the Caribbean heritage sector of the electorate.

After standing unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1992, he was made the first black Conservative peer as Baron Taylor of Warwick four years later.

He resigned the party’s whip in July 2010 after he was charged with the offences of false accounting.