Jury out in trial of former Conservative MP David Mackintosh

Howard Grossman, seen on the left with his wife, and David Mackintosh, both deny the charges

The jury in the trial of a former Conservative MP accused of not disclosing the source of political donations has retired to consider its verdicts.

David Mackintosh is being prosecuted alongside another man, property developer Howard Grossman.

Each face two counts of not disclosing the true source of £39,000 in donations to Northampton South Conservative Association (NCSA) in 2014.

They deny the charges.

The judge at Warwick Crown Court, Mrs Justice Eady, completed her summing up in the case on Tuesday.

Prosecutor William Boyce KC said the reasons for concealing the true identity of the donations were "only too obvious".

He told the jury that if the public learned that Mr Grossman, 61, of Greenacres, Bushey, Hertfordshire, was the sole donor of the £39,000 to Mr Mackintosh's election campaign, it would look "murky".

He said: "The fact that Mr Grossman was the true donor had to be kept secret, else it may have done more harm than good."

The three-week trial heard that nine donations, amounting to £39,000, were facilitated by Mr Grossman, who sent the money to his associates before they paid it to the NSCA.

Mr Boyce KC said that the donors were not known by members of the association, or lived near Northamptonshire.

He added: "At almost every level there was an intent to deceive. 

"It's clear that he, Mackintosh, told Grossman there was a shortfall and he was, in effect, asking Grossman for the money. 

"Mackintosh took those risks because he really wanted the money, he really wanted to be an MP."

The events are alleged to have taken place between April and September 2014.

The trial at Warwick Crown Court is now in its fourth week

The defence argued that the association's treasurer at the time, Suresh Patel, knew of the hidden donations and had instructed Mr Grossman to make them in order to avoid political embarrassment.

Mr Boyce KC accused the defence counsels of "pointing a finger at Mr Patel".

'Following orders'

Cairns Nelson KC, for Mr Mackintosh, said the ex-MP simply was not aware the funds originated from his friend Mr Grossman, and that there was "not a single document that indicates he knew".

Addressing the jury, he said: "It's not about what you think of David Mackintosh's political judgement in 2014 in going along with the acceptance of political donations, whether he's been negligent or reckless or whether he asked the right questions or not.

"Ask yourself - uncluttered by all the irrelevant issues - what did he know? What am I sure he knew? Let's have the full picture, not the ex-Tory MP on the make. This is a perfectly good man," he said.

However, Mr Boyce KC described the notion Mr Mackintosh was in the dark about the donations as "almost laughable if it wasn't so serious".

He painted the picture that it must have been "blindingly obvious" to Mr Mackintosh, who was leader of the Northampton Borough Council at the time, that the donations were not as they seemed.

Mr Grossman's defence barrister, Neil Hawes KC, suggested that though there was no dispute about who paid the donations, the businessman was misled and was only following orders given by Mr Patel on how to make the payments to the association.

He claimed that, as set out in a statement to the police in 2017, Mr Grossman had a conversation with Mr Patel about how to donate at the opening of the town's new bus station in March 2014.

Mr Hawes told the jury: "He told the police what he had done, told them what occurred, told them he was the source of the donations. 

"We suggest that it means, does it not, that you know that a large proportion of Mr Grossman's accounts in that statement were truthful.

He continued: "He was following that very plan Mr Patel had invited him to. Mr Grossman would have had no intention to deceive him. He was the man who has been misled."

Mr Boyce KC described the defence as "unbelievable and untenable".