A former Bollington Councillor in has been sentenced for fraudulently claiming around £5,000 in expenses over five years.

Between 2009 and 2015 William Livesley, 66, who goes by Bill, was a Conservative councillor on Cheshire East Council – firstly representing the Prestbury and Tytherington area and later representing Bollington and Higher Hurdsfield.

The fraud came to light in 2016 after a reporter with the Crewe Chronicle accessed copies of Livesley's travel expense claims from 2014 to 2016 under the Freedom of Information Act.

Following this an internal audit of the claims was set up by the council and they found fraudulent claims for meetings which he had not attended and claims in which the distance to and from meetings was exaggerated.

At a hearing at Chester Crown Court on 27th April 2020, he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud, covering a period from December 2010 to May 2015. The extent of the fraud was thought to be around £5,000.

He was sentenced to 8 months in prison, suspended for a year and has been put on a night time curfew for four months, which states he can't leave his house between the hours of 7pm and 6am, and will be electronically tagged.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Caroline Ross of CPS Mersey Cheshire said: "There is a code of conduct which makes it clear that elected representatives are in a position of trust and mustn't do anything which undermines that trust or confers advantage on themselves or their families.

"Former Councillor Bill Livesley betrayed that trust in a sustained and deliberate fashion and defrauded Cheshire East Council out of large sums of public money over a number of years.

"It's thought that Mr Livesley was under increasing financial pressure and was servicing a series of debts when his fraud was uncovered. He has lost his good name and the trust of the people he represented."

Macclesfield Nub News has seen an email sent from Jan Bakewell, the Director of Governance and Compliance and Monitoring Officer at Cheshire East to council members responding to the sentence.

In it she wrote: "Unfortunately, the Judge did not award any compensation to be paid to the Council, despite an application being made by the CPS.

"This represents the culmination of a substantial amount of work undertaken by colleagues in Internal Audit, supported by colleagues in Democratic Services, on the initial internal investigation and subsequently supporting the police investigation and the trial preparations."

Ms Bakewell added that following the incident with Livesley, a review was undertaken into councillor expenses and the recommendations had been implemented.

Cllr David Edwardes, an independent who represents the Macclesfield Tytherington ward, told Nub News: "I think it's worth noting that he [Bill] and his father have selflessly served the public for around 35 years between them on Macclesfield Borough Council and Cheshire East. Let's hope Bill can put it behind him and finally get on with his life."

He added: "Bill was a very nice guy who did everything he could for Bollington and Tytherington when he represented that ward. A lot of people said Cheshire East had to be seen to stamp down on corruption, but I just wonder how many MP's were treated the same way with duck ponds and things like that."

Councillors Amanda Stott and James Nicholas, from the Bollington First party, jointly told Nub News: "This case has been going on for some considerable time and hopefully now Mr Livesley and his family can put the matter behind them."