FORMER Labour peer Lord Janner was ordered to appear in court in person yesterday on child sex charges.

Lord Janner, who suffers from severe dementia, did not attend Westminster magistrates’ court for an initial hearing, with his lawyers saying he was too ill to come and may suffer a “catastrophic reaction” if he did.

But chief magistrate Howard Riddle ruled that Mr Janner, who faces 22 charges spanning a period from the 1960s to the ’80s, did not have to understand or play a part in the initial hearing but was required by law to attend court.

Mr Riddle heard evidence from two medical experts for the defence who said the former peer’s health was too bad from him to appear.

However, the magistrate said that, while there was “absolutely no doubt” that the accused suffered from severe dementia, the section 51 hearing “does require the defendant’s presence.”

Mr Riddle added that he understood the evidence from the experts that distress was likely to be caused, but he added: “I further understand, and this is very significant, it is likely to have no long-term effect on him.”

It is understood that the proceedings will take the form of a “trial of the facts,” in which a jury hears the evidence against an individual considered too ill for a full trial.

A judge will have to decide if Lord Janner is fit to plead. If he is found not to be, a jury will be asked to decide whether he committed the acts he is charged with.

Lord Janner was suspended from the Labour Party in April. He was a Labour MP until 1997, but was elevated to the Lords that year by the Blair government.

The Crown Prosecution Service initially decided that, although there was enough evidence to prosecute him, to do so would not be in the public interest due to the degenerative nature of his illness.

However, that decision was overturned last week following considerable public anger.

Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders also admitted that previous decisions not to prosecute the peer on the same charges, despite police saying that they had credible evidence, had been wrong.

Lord Janner’s family strenuously deny the allegations against him.