Greville Janner has arrived at court in person to face child abuse allegations after his lawyers failed in a final attempt to prevent him being forced to attend.
The former Labour peer arrived at Westminster magistrates court in central London on Friday afternoon in a silver car – hours after he was initially due to appear.
Lord Janner’s barrister, Paul Ozin, had told deputy chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot that Janner should be allowed to appear via a live videolink from his home due to the severity of his Alzheimer’s.
Large group of photographers and police gathered outside custody entrance where Lord Janner is expected shortly pic.twitter.com/q9ye9BxSln
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) August 14, 2015
But the prosecutor Louise Oakley said that would be unlawful and he must attend court in person. The judge agreed and said arrangements should be made for Janner to appear at the court at 2pm.
In an unusual outburst, Arbuthnot warned Ozin that she would have Janner arrested if the matter was not resolved quickly.
The magistrate said she was concerned that Ozin was engaging in a time-wasting exercise as he discussed the legal technicalities of suspects appearing in court via video link.
“Even if I have to have him arrested I’m going to have it resolved today,” she said, cutting Ozin off in full flow. “I’m warning you that as time progresses I’m going to turn to the prosecution and say, ‘What’s your view?’ – I’m going to get an [arrest] warrant.”
It will be Janner’s first appearance in court over allegations he molested nine boys between the early 1960s and late 1980s. He faces 22 charges in total.
Aaround 35 journalists packed court 1 of the court building in central London, waiting for Janner to appear. Photographers and television crews lined the entrance to the court, held back by metal barriers.
Ozinhad asked the judge to allow the former politician to appear via videolink from his place of residence. Failing that, he suggested Janner could appear via videolink from a “less intimidating” room at Westminster magistrates court. A third option, he said, was for Janner to appear via videolink from a police station.
“If all of that does not meet the requirements of this court, arrangements have been made for Lord Janner to attend in person,” Ozin added.
But Oakley said that appearing via videolink for these purposes would be “incompatible with legislation”, and attending via videolink from a police station was not an option because Janner was not in custody.
Ozin told the high court on Thursday that Janner was a wheelchair user, had developed symptoms of Parkinson’s syndrome and had “virtually no language left”.
He said it would be “barbaric, inhumane and uncivilised” to force him to appear in court in person, and that it would be a breach of his human rights.
But the judges, Lady Justice Rafferty and Mr Justice Irwin, rejected that argument, saying any harmful impact on Janner would be short-lived and that he would probably forget it soon after due to his dementia.
Janner faces a rare form of trial known as a trial of the facts. The defendant cannot put forward a defence, no verdict is reached and the court does not pass sentence. The court can only decide whether the offences were committed as charged.
An independent review in April overturned the original ruling of the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, that Janner should not be charged over alleged child sex crimes because of his Alzheimer’s.
The 87-year-old peer’s family strongly denies claims he used his power to abuse vulnerable young boys at a local children’s home.
