Five guilty of conspiracy to defraud Woking ballot Published duration 23 April 2015

image copyright PA image caption A by-election was held in Woking's Maybury and Sheerwater ward following a legal ruling

Five people have been found guilty of conspiracy to defraud a local government election.

Lib Dem Mohammed Bashir won the Woking Borough Council seat in Surrey by 16 votes in May 2012 but a judge ruled there had been corrupt and illegal practices.

Charges were brought after police investigated allegations that postal votes were fraudulently submitted.

The Conservatives won a subsequent by-election, held in September 2013.

Shaukat Ali, 56, Parveen Akhtar, 48, Shamraiz Ali, 28, Sobia Ali Akhtar, 23, and Abid Hussain, 40, all from New Haw, Surrey, will be sentenced on 9 June at Reading Crown Court.