Lord Janner has been ordered to appear before a judge in person next Friday for a hearing over child sex abuse charges, despite suffering from severe dementia.
Advertisement
The judge heard evidence from two defence psychiatrists who said Janner was too ill to appear.
This has the effect of by-passing the magistrates court and delivering the defendant direct to the Crown Court.
The former Labour MP, 87, was due to have his first hearing today after Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders ruled he would face court in a major U-turn.
In April, prosecutors said Janner, who has Alzheimer’s, was too ill to face charges but were forced to reverse their decision a few months later following anger from his alleged victims.
The court can not impose a hospitalisation or supervision order unless a jury has found the defendant performed the physical act of the crime.
The court was adjourned to allow lawyers to determine when he might appear.
The judge will also have to rule on whether the defendant should appear during the trial or can be excused on medical grounds.
The case comes after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) overturned a previous decision not to launch proceedings against Janner because of his dementia.
He said: “I have heard evidence from the two experts that in the context of today’s hearing there is likely to be distress and that is what has been described as “catastrophic distress”.
He is accused of committing 22 sex offences in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and faced the unusual proceeding of being tried by the facts of the case in his absence.
The chief magistrate Howard Riddle decided that while the 87-year-old was not required to participate in the hearings, he was legally required to appear.
His family has said he is “entirely innocent”, and the peer denies any wrongdoing. “If Lord Janner is not fit to attend court then either the process ends or proceeds by a different route”.
But the glass-enclosed dock remained empty throughout the hearing as his lawyer, Andrew Smith QC, explained why his client was not in attendance.
The consultant told the court Janner could suffer a “catastrophic reaction” if he were brought to court.
Advertisement
Dr Warner told the court that Lord Janner was “significantly more impaired” than when other doctors had previously examined him. When he interviewed Lord Janner at his home in late July, he became increasingly irritated and quite angry and began pacing around the room, he said.
