OLIVE PRESS were NOT Carter Rucked !!!! BUT tax payer footed the bill !
It took great restraint not to run the story on our front page.
AND now the tyrant claims to be 'depressed and suicidal'...... former MP Margaret Moran not fit to stand trial on £80,000 expense fiddling charges
It took great restraint not to run the story on our front page.
- Former Luton South MP accused of falsely claiming huge sums and is suffering from extreme anxiety
- Lewes Crown Court told her ruined career and being abandoned by the Labour party have caused her mental decline
Depressed former Labour MP Margaret Moran is not fit to stand trial accused of fiddling her Parliamentary expenses to the tune of £80,000 because she is self-harming and suicidal, a court heard today.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Philip Joseph told Lewes Crown Court she is suffering from extreme anxiety, making it impossible for her to participate in court proceedings.
Dr Joseph added that the 56-year-old had tried to harm herself and there was a risk of suicide caused by abandonment by the Labour Party and shame that her career was over.
Aged and weeping openly with pain etched into her face, a picture last year showed the toll the expenses scandal had taken on her as she left court.
Showing the strain: An aged Margaret Moran cried as she left court last year after hearing charges regarding her expenses. Right, the ex-MP at Westminster during better times
He was asked if he had considered the possibility that Moran, who was excused from attending today's hearing, might be exaggerating her symptoms, but he said it was unlikely.
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'.
He said that when he saw Moran last October, she talked about her past which was affecting her current mental state.
He said: 'Things that had happened in her childhood were coming back to haunt her and she felt she was being punished for past issues in her childhood.'
Dr Joseph added that the 'vilification was causing her to become a broken woman' and 'everything she used to bolster her self-esteem in her adult life had come crashing down'.
She faces 15 charges of false accounting and six of using a false instrument, which relate to her allegedly submitting forged invoices, between November 2004 and August 2008.
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.
Other allegations include that she dishonestly claimed £22,500 to repair dry rot at her Southampton home.
She is also accused of falsely claiming £14,805 for boiler repairs and work on her conservatory.
Allegations: Margaret Moran is accused of 'flipping' around her home address, including to this one in Luton, to make improvements at the taxpayers' expense
At a previous hearing, James Sturman QC, counsel for Moran, said: 'These proceedings are a continual threat to her life, not just to her liberty, and the experts agree that she is unfit to plead.'
Moran is the fifth Labour MP to face prosecution over the expenses scandal.
David Chaytor, Eric Illsley, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine were all jailed and have since been released.
From the House of Lords, Lord Taylor of Warwick and Lord Hanningfield – both Tories – were also jailed over the expenses scandal.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136072/Depressed-suicidal-MP-Margaret-Moran-fit-stand-trial-80-000-expense-fiddling-charges.html#ixzz1tF5kLrUP
