Jim Devine savours his taste of freedom

JIM Devine, the former Livingston MP jailed for fiddling his expenses, was all smiles back home in Blackburn, West Lothian, yesterday.

The 58-year-old, who was released on Monday after serving a quarter of his 16-month sentence, was seen at the house with his son and granddaughter.

He cut a much happier figure than the one that arrived to face trial in London earlier this year - he was found guilty of fiddling his expenses.

It is understood Devine was released under a home-curfew scheme, which allows low-risk prisoners to be tagged and freed after serving at least a quarter of their sentence.

He will spend four months on the scheme and will then be on probation for a further eight months.

Devine, who was elected in 2005 following the death of Robin Cook, spent four months in prison for submitting false invoices totalling 8,385.

He told his trial the claims had been based on a "nod and a wink" from a fellow MP in a bar in the House of Commons.