So, after three years of trying to dodge the Crown Prosecution Service by spuriously claiming immunity as an MEP, Ashley Mote finally appeared in court to face charges of multiple benefit fraud.

It was disappointing to see that elements of the press chose to cover the story without mentioning that Mote was elected as UKIP and spends most of his time hypocritically denouncing the EU as corrupt. Instead, Eurosceptic newspapers turned a story about an opponent of the EU into an anti-EU story, with headlines such as "£70,000 MEP con" and "MEP fleeces taxpayers", trying to use Mote's behaviour to bring all MEPs into disrepute.

(Incidentally, Mote is not the only MEP elected on the UKIP ticket to face investigation for misappropriation of public money. His former UKIP colleague Tom Wise is under investigation for allegedly misappropriating public monies.)

At the start of this year, Mr Mote was one of the founding members of the neo-fascist Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty group in the European Parliament (which unites Mussolini's granddaughter and Jean Marie Le Pen's National Front). Mr Mote's brass neck also extended to giving 'evidence' to a House of Lords enquiry into the EU's financial management in 2006.

Let's hope that Mr Mote's case is swiftly resolved and that other MEPs are not tarred by his brush.