boxing day 2012: Margaret Moran spared jail for fiddling £53,000 in expenses and faces supervision order instead

Friday, December 14, 2012

Margaret Moran spared jail for fiddling £53,000 in expenses and faces supervision order instead

Moran, 57, represented Luton South as an MP for 13 years

She claimed nearly her entire annual allowance in one bogus expense entry and forged invoices for more than £20,000

She was sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court to a two year supervision and treatment order

Judge: 'There will inevitably be feelings that [she] has 'got away with it'

By Matt Blake

PUBLISHED: 05:05 EST, 14 December 2012 | UPDATED: 05:33 EST, 14 December 2012

Fiddled: Moran, 57, who represented Luton South for 13 years, claimed nearly her entire annual allowance in one bogus expense entry and forged invoices for more than £20,000

Disgraced former Labour MP Margaret Moran has been spared jail for fiddling expenses to receive more than £53,000 from the taxpayer.

Moran, 57, who represented Luton South for 13 years, claimed nearly her entire annual allowance in one bogus expense entry and forged invoices for more than £20,000 for non-existent goods and services.

The disgraced former MP's claims were the largest amount uncovered in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal, but she does not receive a criminal conviction after a judge ruled she was unfit to stand trial for mental health reasons.

She was sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court to a two year supervision and treatment order, to be supervised by Southampton City Council.

Mrs Moran was not present at Southwark to hear Mr Justice Saunders make the ruling.

He said: 'There will inevitably be feelings among some that Mrs Moran has "got away with it".

'What the court has done and has to do is to act in accordance with the law of the land and on the basis of the evidence that it hears.'

The judge said two distinguished psychiatrists instructed by the defence had concluded she was unfit to plead, and a psychiatrist instructed by the prosecution broadly agreed.

'All the evidence in the case was that she was unfit to plead. If I had reached any other conclusion my decision would have been perverse and would inevitably have been successfully appealed.'

A jury decided that she did the acts alleged against her, and the defence played little if any part in the hearing.

'The findings of the court were not convictions. Those findings enable me to make orders requiring her to undergo treatment for her mental health.'

Out and about: Former MP Margaret Moran is pictured leaving a pub in Southampton only five days after she was deemed unfit to stand trial

Able to drink: Despite a judge ruling she was too fragile to defend herself in court, MP Margaret Moran appeared to enjoy a glass of red wine at the pub near her Hampshire home

Up for a walk: Ms Moran was later seen at Lepe Country Park, walking her dog with her husband last month

Dr Simon Kelly, from the Priory Hospital in Southampton, said that he last saw Moran on Tuesday.

'She remains very distressed, very agitated, she is severely ill.

'She is unable really to process information that is presented to her.

'What she seeks today is to recover from her illness and continue to engage in treatment.

Changed: Ms Moran's appearance had changed dramatically since the 2010 election when she appeared at a court hearing in September 2011

'She's living a restricted lifestyle, she's not answered the telephone at home for approximately three years, she goes out very occasionally, to a local supermarket for 30 minutes.

'She recently acquired a terrier cross dog, two years ago, and tends to walk him as well.'

She said a newspaper article on November 25 was 'deeply distressing to her'. It was reported then that she had been spotted at a pub.