Former Labour MP Margaret Moran, who fiddled her expenses claims to receive more than £53,000 from the taxpayer, has been sentenced to a two year supervision and treatment order.

The 57-year-old, who is suffering from depression, was not at Southwark Crown Court to hear the sentence for herself.

Ms Moran, 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 of non-existent goods and services.

The order will be supervised by Southampton City Council.

Judge Mr Justice Saunders admitted that some would believe she had "got away with it".

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."

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.

"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.

Asked how it had affected her illness, Dr Kelly said: "She experienced panic attacks, nightmares and believes that she is going to be doorstepped at any point."

Asked how she would have reacted if she had to come to court, he said: "She is so sensitised to publicity, this would have been the most difficult place for her to come. I wonder physically whether it would be possible to get her here.

"I don't know whether it would be physically possible to remove her from her home without restraining her."

Jim Sturman, representing Mrs Moran, said: "The more vengeful press, who hound her at her front door, seem to think that the only way someone can be demonstrably mentally ill is if they are in a straitjacket in a padded cell.

"The reports back in April all agree that she suffers from this mental illness.

"Hounding a mentally ill woman is a dangerous and vile thing to do, at any time, particularly post the Leveson conclusions.

"It could have led to an increased risk of suicide.

"There will always be sections of the media who believe it's a huge con. But they've not read all the evidence."

Mr Sturman said he was making these observations on behalf of Mrs Moran's husband.

The judge said the order would be under the supervision of a mental health social worker employed by Southampton City Council, and Mrs Moran would be treated by Dr Kelly, with a view to the improvement of her medical condition.

The judge also said that his rulings were limited to criminal proceedings.

"They do not affect any steps that may be taken through the civil courts to recover any money that Mrs Moran has received to which she was not entitled."

Louis Mably, representing the Crown, said the matter was under consideration.

The light sentence was furiously condemned on Twitter - with many comparing it to the two year jail term by a vandal who scrawled over a Mark Rothko painting at Tate Modern.

@_Jock wrote: "Former MP Margaret Moran sentenced to two-year supervision & treatment order for false expenses claims" Good job she didn't biro a painting."

While der_bluthund asked: " IS that IT? If I had done similar to Margaret Moran I would have been looking at 5 to 10 years inside prison. An MP should get DOUBLE!"

@UK_Resistande said: "2 year supervision order for Margaret Moran the MP who stole thousands from YOU, laughable, they're just blatant with it now."

Moran, of Ivy Road, St Denys, Southampton, was found to have falsely claimed around £60,000 in parliamentary expenses between 2004 and 2008, of which she received £53,000.

She was first elected in 1997 and stood down at the 2010 General Election,

The court heard Moran submitted an invoice for £22,500 in August 2008 - just under the annual maximum expense allowance for an MP - to treat dry rot at her Southampton home, using the money instead to fund "home improvements".

She was able to make the dry rot claim by "flipping" her two homes - changing which property was her second home and therefore allowing her to claim expenses on it.

Moran also changed dates on invoices for the work so that the money would be paid.

One invoice in August 2007 was for £14,805 - apparently for boiler repairs and work on a conservatory in her constituency home in Luton, when it was actually at her house in Southampton, the court heard.

On another fake bill for more than £4,000, address details given for a building firm were those of an elderly couple.

She also claimed more than £2,000 for a landline at her flat when there was no phone line fitted, the jury heard, and for carpet for three bedrooms at her one-bedroom Westminster flat.

Jurors heard that Moran altered addresses to make it look as if she was making legitimate claims for her second home or constituency office, when they were to cover her personal costs.

Moran "abused the scheme", prosecutors said, going as far as to re-submit expenses claims with different descriptions and supportive invoices if they were initially rejected by parliamentary authorities.