Ashley Mote (25 January 1936 – 30 March 2020) was a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2004 to 2009. Elected representing the UK Independence Party, he became a non-inscrit one month into his term after UKIP withdrew the whip from him due to investigation into his expenses. A vociferous critic of fraud in the European Institutions, he himself was convicted of benefit fraud in 2007 for which he served a nine-month prison sentence and was described by the trial judge as "a truly dishonest man". The scandal ignited a debate as to how an MEP could receive a prison sentence, yet keep his seat in the European Parliament. In 2015, Mote was jailed for a further five years for fraudulently claiming nearly £500,000 in European Parliament expenses. Early career Mote was born in London. He was educated at the City of London Freemen's School. Married with two children, Mote was a management consultant who ran a marketing business in Woking, Surrey, employing thirteen full-time staff, for eighteen years before it closed in 1989 as a result of the late 1980s recession. He later became an author, publishing several titles on right-wing politics and also on cricket. His books have included Vigilance - A Defence of British Liberty (2001) about the European Union, and OverCrowded Britain: Our Immigration Crisis. His books on cricket are The Glory Days of Cricket (1997) which won The Cricket Society's "Cricket Book of the Year" award in 1997 and a new edition in 1998 of John Nyren's classic collection of articles on the Georgian game, The Cricketers of My Time (1833). Mote was also the first president of the revived Hambledon Club which raises money for colts cricket. European Parliament In June 2004, Mote was elected to the European Parliament as a representative of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) for the South East England constituency, after campaigning to clean up sleaze in Brussels. After being charged with fraud, Mote had the UKIP whip withdrawn from him pending his trial and became a non-attached MEP. In 2005, he joined Hans Peter Martin and Paul van Buitenen in a loose political group called "Platform for Transparency" which promoted accountability in the European Union. In 2006, he gave evidence to the House of Lords enquiry into the EU's financial management of public funds. In 2007, he transferred his allegiance to the new