MICHAEL Mates, the Conservative candidate at the elections for Hampshire Police Commissioner last autumn, is facing the prospect of being prosecuted for electoral fraud.

The police have sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service following a six-month investigation.

Officers from Thames Valley Police investigated accusations that Mr Mates, 79, had broken electoral rules regarding his home address.

Mr Mates, a former Tory Government minister and MP for East Hampshire from 1974 to 2010, was accused by one of his opponents in the PCC election, Don Jerrard of the Justice and Anti-Corruption party, of making a false declaration that he had moved from west Sussex to an address in Winchester.

The police commissioner election rules state that, unlike parliamentary elections, candidates must live in the area they aim to represent.

The complaint against Mr Mates, during the campaign, was originally made to Hampshire police, but was passed on to Thames Valley police to avoid any conflict of interest.

Mr Mates lost the election to independent Simon Hayes.

Mr Mates was a surprise choice for the candidacy beating off local heavyweights such as Winchester City Council leader George Beckett.

In the 1990s he had been forced to resign as a minister for his support of disgraced tycoon Asil Nadir, jailed last year for fraud.

Mr Mates has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.