Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg also found Thomson guilty of using union funds for his personal use after he had left the HSU and taken up his role as the Labor member for the NSW seat of Dobell. But Mr Rozencwajg found Thomson not guilty of charges related to the purchase of in-house movies in hotel rooms while on HSU work trips, and delivered a mixed verdict related to allegations he illegally used union funds on travel expenses for his then wife, Christa. The magistrate found some of the allegations related to spousal travel proven, but dismissed others. In total Thomson was charged with more than 140 offences, including theft, obtaining property by deception and obtaining financial advantage by deception. The Office of Public Prosecutions and Melbourne Magistrates Court are yet to confirm exactly how many charges Thomson was found guilty of and the number of acquitted offences.

Regardless, Thomson left the court grim-faced and without comment and was heckled with calls of ‘‘liar’’ by relatives of HSU whistleblower Marco Bolano, who were angry that the former politician stood before his colleagues and country in 2012 and tearfully denied the allegations, and claimed he was being set up by his political and union opponents. Thomson had earlier showed little emotion, as he had done through much of his trial before Mr Rozencwajg, as he sat in the front row of a pack court room. Thomson had his bail extended and now faces a maximum jail term of five years and is scheduled to return to court on March 18 for sentence. Some have suggested he will escape a prison term, but Mr Rozencwajg is the same magistrate who last year refused to put Victorian MP Geoff Shaw on diversion program - effectively a slap on the wrist - after the prosecution and defence teams in that case struck a deal on dishonesty charges. The charges against Mr Shaw were later struck out. Mr Rozencwajg said it was ‘‘an affront to common sense’’ that Thomson could think he could use a union-issued credit card to pay escort workers, when he, as the head of the union, had previously redrafted the code on the use of HSU cards. Documents show Thomson spent more than $5500 of union funds on escort workers, including $770 for sexual services with an escort worker named Alina in May 2005. Thomson later claimed this spending to the union as a ‘‘dinner function’’.

Other sex-related payments included paying $418 to the Tiffany’s Girls brothel for 90 minutes in its ‘‘Red turbo spa room’’ during a visit in June 2005 and $2475 paid to Room Escort Services for sexual services on one night in April 2005. A prostitute who worked under the name ‘‘Misty’’ later told police Thomson was a regular client in 2007 and that he had lied when he publicly denied allegations made against him. Mr Rozencwajg said there was also ‘‘ample evidence’’ put by witnesses at Thomson’s trial that cash was not to be withdrawn from union accounts. He made no ruling on what Thomson used the cash for, but said the 16 theft charges - related to $6250 withdrawn from ATMs - proven. He said there was no justification for Thomson using union funds on cigarettes and firewood for his then wife and for dipping into union accounts once he had left the HSU. But Mr Rozencwajg conceded there were some ‘‘grey areas’’ in policies governing the use of work-issued credit cards, and so dismissed the charges related to the purchase of adult movies - buying pornographic films in itself was not an offence, he said - and some charges related to travel expenses for Christa Thomson.

The verdicts were handed down more than one year after Thomson first appeared in a criminal court, about six years after union officials learned of his misconduct and almost five years after the allegations against him were first aired publicly. Over that time Labor was reliant on his vote before he was jettisoned by the party - he lost Dobell in last year’s election standing as an independent - and was investigated by the Fair Work Commission. (The commission’s case against Thomson is to go to mediation, but no date has been set.) The Thomson case and that of former HSU president Michael Williamson, who will also be sentenced in March for misappropriating union funds, have also been massive blows for the HSU. The prosecution accused Thomson of using HSU credit cards and a Flight Centre account to accrue more than $28,000 in personal expenses from the union. Outside court, Mr Bolano’s partner, Kylee Brehaut, and her mother, Marg Brehaut, said justice had been done and said their family had been ‘‘through hell’’ in its pursuit of the truth since

Mr Bolano and other union officials made Thomson’s offending known. Marg Brehaut said she felt sorry for hard-working HSU members who had had their contributions spent by Thomson. Her daughter said it was ‘‘not OK’’ for the principles of Federal Parliament ‘‘to be undermined by MPs who think they can lie and get away with it’’. HSU acting national secretary Chris Brown, who gave evidence during Thomson’s trial that union-issued credit cards were not to be used for personal items, welcomed the verdict. ‘‘It has been six long years since the fraud was first uncovered with three major investigations leading to today’s verdict,’’ Mr Brown said.

He said the union would seek to recover any money stolen from it. Loading With AAP Follow us on Twitter