Disgraced former Labour MP Margaret Moran received more than £53,000 in fake parliamentary expenses Margaret Moran, a disgraced former Labour MP, received more than £53,000 by fiddling her parliamentary expenses, a jury at Southwark Crown Court has ruled. However, the former Luton South MP escaped a guilty verdict and the prospect of a prison sentence because she was deemed unfit to stand trial for mental health reasons. She could be given an absolute discharge at a later date. The ruling was the postscript to a once-bright political career brought to a sudden and humiliating end by the MPs" expenses scandal which engulfed Westminster before the last general election. Moran, a former leader of Lewisham Council, was elected in the Labour landslide of 1997 and quickly given a foot on the first rung of the ministerial ladder as as a parliamentary private secretary. She later joined the government whips office before her progress stalled. Moran was regarded by some parliamentary colleagues as a bon-viveur and they had little sympathy for her in 2009, when it was revealed that she had claimed £22,500 of taxpayers" money to treat dry rot at her partner's home in Southampton - 80 miles from her constituency. At the time, she was defiant, declaring: "Any MP has to have a proper family life, they have to have support of their partner." She was able claim for home improvements by "flipping" her two homes - changing which property was designated her second home so she could claim expenses on it. She also changed dates on invoices for the work. One invoice in 2007 was for £14,805 - apparently for boiler repairs and work on her conservatory in her constituency home in Luton, when it was actually at her partner's house in Southampton, the court was told. She also claimed more than £2,000 for a landline at her Westminster flat when there was no phone line fitted, the jury heard, and for carpet for three bedrooms for the one-bedroom flat. Her £53,000 in false claims were the largest amount uncovered during the expenses affair - and more than the figures which have already resulted in prison terms for four other former Labour MPs and two Conservative peers. But other MPs described the Moran case as a human tragedy, recalling that she looked a shadow of her former self when she wept inconsolably through an earlier hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court. After the jury reached a unanimous verdict on all 15 counts, Mr Justice Saunders adjourned the disposal of the case to a later date. Moran may be subject to a supervision order, a hospital order or absolute discharge, with no further action is taken against her, the judge said. "She is presently being treated by psychiatrists at home and that treatment will continue," he added. Rather than finding her guilty, jurors had to decide whether the former MP did commit the acts alleged in the charges, and whether they amount to the offences with which she was charged. The prosecution alleged that Moran "abused the scheme," even re-submitting expenses claims with different descriptions and supportive invoices if they were initially rejected by parliamentary authorities. After being suspended by the Labour Party, Moran agreed to repay the money and stood down before the 2010 election. But she attracted further criticism when she was caught in a "sting" in which several MPs agreed to use their position to influence government policy for money. They were filmed secretly by The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme discussing the possibility of working for an American lobbying firm. The court 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. She tried to claim £47 for printing 50 Christmas cards, but was told that greetings cards were not covered by parliamentary expenses. She then submitted a new invoice for the same amount for "printing services." The same happened with a claim for birthday cards, later described as "surgery cards."