FORMER Labour MP David Chaytor has urged Court of Appeal judges to reduce his 18-month jail sentence for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.

A panel of three judges, headed by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, heard a plea on behalf of the 61-year-old that the "appropriate" sentence in his case was one of 12 months.

Chaytor, who forged tenancy documents and invoices to falsely claim more than £22,000 of taxpayers’ money for rent and IT work from the Commons authorities, was jailed on January 7.

The ex MP, who worked at Huddersfield University (then Polytechnic) in the early 1970s, was the Calderdale councillor for Todmorden in 1982 as well as a failed parliamentary candidate in the Calder Valley constituency before becoming MP for Bury North.

Jim Sturman QC, for Chaytor, told Lord Judge, sitting in London with Mr Justice Henriques and Mr Justice Foskett, that it was "no longer pursued on appeal that a suspended sentence should have been imposed". He said the sole question for the court was whether the 18-month sentence was "too long".

He said: "It is accepted by Mr Chaytor, and always has been accepted by him, that an MP does not deserve special treatment, but I say he deserves equal treatment."

Chaytor, a former lecturer, of Lumbutts, Todmorden, initially denied the charges but changed his plea after failing to have the case thrown out citing parliamentary privilege and that he could not receive a fair trial because of media scrutiny.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of false accounting between November 2005 and January 2008.

The fraud involved bogus documents he submitted to support claims totalling £22,650 for IT services and renting homes in London and his Bury North constituency.

London’s Southwark Crown Court heard he received only £18,350 because he had already reached his limit for the IT expenses and was not awarded the full amount for one rental claim.

Chaytor’s appeal centres on the argument that if he had made claims in a legitimate way he would have received all of the money, that he was given insufficient credit for his guilty plea and also that he was the victim of "horrendous" treatment by the media. The judges will give their decision on Wednesday.