‘Broken woman’ MP will not face jury on expenses allegations

Mr Justice Saunders said the 56-year-old would not have to appear in court after hearing evidence from consultant forensic psychiatrist Philip Joseph that Moran, who was described as a “broken woman”, suffering from a depressive illness and extreme anxiety and agitation.

Dr Joseph told Lewes Crown Court, in East Sussex, that the stress of the proceedings and allegations Moran was facing made it impossible for her to participate in proceedings.

He said: “There have been concerns at times that she has been suicidal and concerns about attempts to harm herself.”

Dr Joseph was asked if he had considered the possibility that Moran, who was excused from attending the hearing, might be exaggerating her symptoms, but he said it was unlikely.

He told the court that the former MP, of Ivy Road, St Denys, Southampton, Hampshire, felt feelings of abandonment and rejection by the Labour Party and shame that her career was over.

Dr Joseph added that she also harboured feelings of guilt, hopelessness, shame, worthlessness and “the feeling she is being punished for past mistakes for incidents in her childhood and adolescence”.

Dr Joseph said the “vilification was causing her to become a broken woman”.

Moran was described as weeping inconsolably when she appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last year on 15 charges of false accounting and six of using a false instrument relating to expense claims totalling around £80,000.

It is alleged that the former MP for Luton South, who stood down at the last election, “flipped” her designated second home, making claims for properties in London, Luton and Southampton.

The case was adjourned to Southwark Crown Court on November 15 for a three-day hearing for a jury to determine whether the defendant did the acts alleged by the prosecution.