No jury would believe Angela Rayner's account of her controversial property dealings, leading barrister claims

A top barrister last night said a jury would be unlikely to believe Angela Rayner's account of her controversial property dealings.

Rebecca Butler, a specialist in family and criminal law, said evidence shows 'beyond reasonable doubt' that Labour's Deputy Leader was not living at her council house in Stockport – despite being registered there on the electoral roll.

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Ms Butler, a barrister at Great James Street Chambers in London, warned that Ms Rayner could have broken electoral law if her property on Vicarage Road was not her primary address.

Knowingly providing false information on an electoral registration form is an offence, which can carry a six-month jail sentence or unlimited fine.

Ms Rayner has said the house in Vicarage Road, which she bought under the right-to-buy policy in 2007, was her 'principal property' from 2009 to 2015, but would 'spend time' at her husband Mark's home about a mile away in Lowndes Lane.

But neighbours at both properties insist she lived at Lowndes Lane throughout.

'The media does need to pursue this,' Ms Butler said. 

'On the balance of probabilities she was living with her husband. Beyond reasonable doubt?

'She's living with her husband and her brother was her tenant. Why would the neighbours lie?

'It would be beyond the bounds of credibility for people to believe she wasn't living with her husband and father of her children. A jury would take a hell of a lot of convincing.'