After death of peer accused of offences against nine boys and men, legal expert says trials of the facts often die with the unfit defendant

The death of the former Labour peer Greville Janner almost certainly means that child sex allegations made against him will never be tested in a criminal court, according to legal experts.

Lord Janner, who died aged 87 after suffering dementia, was accused of offences against nine boys and men and had been due to face a “trial of the facts” in April, a special criminal hearing for suspects unfit to defend themselves in a normal trial.

While these take place before a jury there is no formal verdict of guilty or sentence. Defendants found to have committed an offence can be placed in a hospital, given a supervision order or discharged, or they can be acquitted.

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Because Janner would have had no direct involvement in a trial of the facts – a court determining his fitness to plead was told he barely recognised his family and had no recollection of his career as an MP and peer – there had been speculation it could continue nonetheless, so the victims could see the allegations heard.



However, Ronnie Mackay, a professor of criminal policy and mental health at De Montfort University in Leicester, who has carried out a study into unfitness to plead, said this seemed extremely unlikely.

“Always when the unfit defendant has died, after a finding of unfitness to plead but before the trial of the facts, the proceedings seem to terminate,” he said. “I can’t think of any way in which the Crown Prosecution Service could even reinstate the case. It dies with the unfit defendant.”

The CPS has not commented on what will happen but is understood to be taking the same view, one to be formally confirmed this week.

A trial of the facts, Mackay said, had been introduced to improve the old legal system under which defendants found unfit to plead could be committed to hospital indefinitely without any determination of their guilt or innocence.

“What they are trying to do is not just give the victims their day in court but protect the unfit defendant as well, to some extent,” he said. “So if the unfit defendant does die, and this does happen, then the proceedings terminate. That would be my experience.”



If Janner had not died and the trial of the facts had gone ahead, Mackay said he would almost certainly have been given a discharge if found to have committed offences, because of his age and infirmity.

Janner’s family have consistently insisted on his innocence, and a trial of the facts could also have acquitted him, Mackay added.

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Janner’s alleged victims are expected to continue their fight in the civil courts and seek compensation from his estate.

Liz Dux, a lawyer at Slater and Gordon, who represents six of the alleged victims, said the death was “devastating news” for them. She said: “They have waited so long to see this case come before the courts, to be denied justice at the final hurdle is deeply frustrating.



“Worse still is that so many opportunities to bring this matter to justice whilst he was well were missed. All they have ever wanted is to give their evidence in court and have these very serious allegations tested and to be believed.”

Janner’s family said the peer, who died at his London home on Saturday, would be deeply missed and requested their mourning be respected.

Mackay’s research, due to be published next month alongside a wider Law Commission report on the subject, found that about 100 trials of the facts take place a year. One example came in 2012, when the former Labour MP Margaret Moran, who had been found unfit to plead for psychiatric reasons, was given a two-year supervision and treatment order for wrongly claiming £53,000 in expenses.

• This article was amended on 21 December 2015 to clarify that Professor Ronnie Mackay did not lead a Law Commission study into unfitness to plead, although his research will be published alongside its report on the subject.