Seven charged in vote fraud probe

12 April 2012

Seven people have been charged with postal ballot fraud at the last General Election, police said.

The seven will appear in court next month charged with conspiracy to defraud.

No personal details of the alleged offenders have been released by police.

Each one is charged with conspiracy to defraud the returning officer in Bradford.

West Yorkshire Police said that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recommended charges following a joint probe with the city's returning officer into "voting patterns and postal votes".

In a statement, a force spokesman said: "Following allegations regarding the conduct of the General Election in 2005, the returning officer asked West Yorkshire Police to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding voting patterns and postal votes.

"After a lengthy investigation, which involved full co-operation between the returning officer, his staff and West Yorkshire Police, a file of evidence was forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration.

"Following detailed and independent scrutiny of the evidence the Crown Prosecution Service recommended proceedings against seven individuals and as a result they will appear before Bradford Magistrates Court on 14th November 2007 charged with conspiracy to defraud the returning officer.

"We wish to emphasise in the strongest terms that Bradford Council, the returning officer and West Yorkshire Police have a firm policy of close liaison with regard to any allegations surrounding elections and are committed to ensuring that all elections are conducted fairly and impartially."

During the May 2005 election, former Bradford returning officer Philip Robinson referred 252 cases of possible election fraud to the police. In April 2006, West Yorkshire Police passed files on 11 men and two women to the CPS following its investigation in Bradford.

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