A trial of facts when a former MP is unfit to plead

If you think the idea that Greville Janner should face a trial of facts if he is unfit to plead is fanciful, you may be surprised to learn that a former MP faced just such a trial very recently.

As Ian Pace reminds us:

In 2012, the former Labour MP for Luton South Margaret Moran faced 21 charges of false accounting and forgery of parliamentary expenses involving sums of over £60,000. However, following a psychiatrist’s report, Moran was found to be suffering from a depressive illness, with extreme anxiety and agitation, and as such was unfit to stand trial. Nonetheless, a trial went ahead in her absence (a so-called ‘trial of the facts’) and it was found that she did indeed falsely claim more than £53,000.