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JIM DEVINE used public money to fund flights to see Celtic play in the Champions League - by claiming he was on constituency business.

 

The shamed MP travelled north for glamour midweek games in Glasgow, telling Parliamentary bosses that he had vital meetings to attend.

 

Former office manager Marion Kinley said: "Devine would fly up for Celtic midweek matches between 2006 and 2008.

 

"He would come up on Wednesday and fly back on the Thursday morning.

 

"MPs should have been at Westminster so Devine would make up an excuse that he had constituency business or kid on he was going to a funeral.

 

"And during the parliamentary recess, he would make an excuse to fly to London so that he could get a cheaper flight to go away on holiday."

 

Devine also made sure his staff did not benefit from the cash he was claiming on their behalf.

 

While he claimed �£250 a month in expenses for petty cash for the office, he was so mean he didn't pay for tea and coffee for the staff.

 

Devine - who has a 2000 conviction for drink-driving - also claimed more than �£10,000 in mileage while Marion was acting as his chauffeur. But he handed her just �£60.

 

Marion, 47, said: "When I first started working for him, it was during recess. I would be driving him almost seven days a week, taking him to gala days at the weekend.

 

"The procedure was for mileage claims to be paid in MPs' accounts and they signed a form agreeing to pay the money to the person whose car it was.

 

"He was claiming hundreds of pounds a month for mileage and all I ever received was �£60 for petrol.

 

"I think he saw me driving him about - and the costs I incurred - as part of my duties.

 

"The money went straight into the account and I never saw the money.

 

"I would tell him my car didn't run on fresh air and he would say, 'F*** off, I pay you enough'."

 

In March 2008, Devine persuaded a friend to call Marion pretending to be a freelance journalist looking into MPs' expenses. She is still bemused as to the reasons for the hoax.

 

Devine did not even try to cover his tracks and Marion discovered an email he had sent to the woman to set up the ruse.

 

Marion, who as office manager had access to the email account, went into an immediate state of shock and took time off for stress.

 

She said: "To this day, I can't understand why he did that. Maybe it was to avoid giving me a wage rise."

 

In her absence, Devine made up a series of lies about her. She said: "He told the rest of the office staff that I was being investigated by the police for making fraudulent claims.

 

"The office staff were embarrassed because they knew I was off work with stress. He then told people that I had a gambling addiction.

 

"But my colleagues knew I have only had a bet on the Grand National.

 

"I think he saw me as a female version of him."

 

Marion tried to return to work in October 2008 but Devine suspended her over allegations she had made false claims. She eventually quit in May 2009.

 

She also believes that her being on sick leave may have led Devine to claiming thousands of pounds in fraudulent expenses.

 

She said: "When I was off sick, he was not able to claim the miles I drove. That income stopped for him.

 

"He was down �£300 or �£400 a month and had to get the money from somewhere."

 

Marion won her fight to prove she had been unfairly dismissed by Devine last October and is still trying to get the �£35,000 she was awarded against him.

 

Meanwhile, Devine will be sentenced in a month after being found guilty last week of two charges of false accounting. He could face a prison term of up to seven years.

 

Marion said last night: "I take no great pleasure from him facing jail. But he has got himself into this situation.

 

"It is incredible that a man of his age could be so stupid and arrogant."

 

Devine was found guilty of a charge that he got somebody else to complete three invoices from a cleaning company for �£360, �£360 and �£2160.

 

The receipts, which he copied from one original blank invoice, were submitted by Devine to the Parliamentary authorities between 2008 and 2009.

 

The jury also found him guilty of asking printing company Armstrong to mark two invoices "received with thanks", to indicate he had paid for orders.

 

However, he never handed over any cash for the two ghost orders, worth �£2400 and �£3105.

 

Instead, Devine pocketed the money after submitting the receipts to the fees office between March and April 2009.

 

The jury cleared him of a third charge relating to �£360 that he sought to pay a cleaner.

 

During the trial, Devine attempted to evade justice by blaming Marion.

 

He even accused her of forging his signature to pay herself a bonus of �£5000.

 

She said: "I feel a tiny bit of sympathy. But if he had his way, it would have been me standing in that dock.

 

"He would have seen me go to prison to save his own skin. I have to think that he got what he deserved."

 

Disgraced MP could lose home

 

Shamed Jim Devine faces a bankruptcy order that could see him lose his home.

 

Marion Kinley has applied for a sequestration order after he failed to pay money awarded to her for unfair dismissal.

 

An employment tribunal awarded her �£35,000 last October for breach of contract and unfair dismissal after Devine "bullied and harassed" her.

 

But Devine failed to pay the money.

 

Marion could have moved to have Devine sequestrated but rejected that idea because she didn't want to see him lose his house.

 

But she failed to have his �£30,000 House of Commons "golden goodbye" pay-off seized by bailiffs.

 

It had been frozen pending the outcome of Devine and other MPs' trials.

 

The sequestration order hearing is to be heard later this month.

 

Marion said: "It is my only option left. I have exhausted all other avenues."

 

Meanwhile, a decision on whether Devine should keep his "golden goodbye" could be made by MPs tomorrow.

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