   eric evlyn illsley (born 9 april 1955) is a former british politician who was the member of parliament (mp) for barnsley central from 1987 until 2011. he was a labour party representative until suspended from the party after being charged with false accounting as part of the united kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, and then sat as an independent. when he pleaded guilty to three counts of false accounting on 11 january 2011, he became the first sitting member of parliament to be convicted of a criminal offence in the scandal. illsley resigned from the house of commons on 8 february 2011, following his conviction, and was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment on 10 february 2011. ==early life== illsley was born in kendray, west riding of yorkshire and educated at hunningley lane junior school, barnsley's holgate grammar school for boys and the university of leeds, where he obtained an honours degree in law in 1977.
1955_births Alumni_of_the_University_of_Leeds British_politicians_convicted_of_fraud British_trade_unionists English_politicians_convicted_of_crimes Independent_MPs_(UK) Labour_Party_(UK)_MPs Living_people Members_of_the_Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom_for_English_constituencies People_educated_at_Holgate_School,_Barnsley People_from_Barnsley Politics_of_Barnsley UK_MPs_1987a92 UK_MPs_1992a97 UK_MPs_1997a2001 UK_MPs_2001a05 UK_MPs_2005a10 UK_MPs_2010a