Anger as expenses cheat MP Jim Devine is freed from jail

Mr Devine, who was jailed for 16 months in March after being branded a liar by his trial judge, was released from Standford Hill Prison in Kent yesterday.

The former Labour MP for Livingston spent only four months behind bars for submitting false invoices totalling 8,385 between 2008 and 2009 – after the scandal over politicians' claims had already broken.

It is understood that Devine, 58, was freed 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.

However, Emma Boon, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said releasing the former MP so soon sent out the wrong message.

She said: "For taxpayers who witnessed the whole expenses scandal play out in Westminster, the hope was that this sentence was really a sign and was sending a message that MPs were not above the law and he got a strong custodial sentence.

"So it's really disappointing now to see now that he'll be out and walking the streets in his constituency after serving just a quarter of his time.

"There's a serious risk of the sentence being seen as a hollow gesture and a danger of damaging the trust between taxpayers and parliament that is very fragile and in the very early stages of being rebuilt.

"It's quite unusual to only serve a quarter of a sentence. We know that people get let out for good behaviour, but this just looks like a former-MP being treated like a special case.

"Clearly he's not any danger to the public, and I'm sure that will have been taken into account, but that isn't the only reason we lock people up."

Ms Boon said she had been contacted by supporters of the organisation expressing their outrage at the decision to free Devine early.

Devine is the third former MP jailed over the parliamentary expenses scandal to be released.