Lord Janner child abuse charges: Former Labour MP loses bid to prevent him attending court

His legal team say it is 'barbaric' to make the peer attend court

The former Labour peer and MP was ordered to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London in relation to 22 charges (PA)

The former Labour peer Lord Janner will appear before the court on Friday to face child abuse charges, after his lawyers failed in a High Court appeal.

Lord Janner, who is 87, suffers from dementia, and his legal team argued today that it was "barbaric, inhuman and uncivilised to expose a vulnerable person to this experience".

But Lady Justice Rafferty, sitting with Mr Justice Irwin, said the court "unhesitatingly concluded" that it was in the public interest for Lord Janner to attend the Westminster Magistrate's Court hearing tomorrow.

During the hearing, she said it was important that justice was seen to be open, and rejected the application that making Lord Janner appear in court was against his human rights.

The peer, who has been on a leave of absence from the Lords since October 2014 due to his illness, faces 22 charges spanning a period from the 1960s to the 1980s.

His legal team, who wanted Friday's hearing delayed to give them time to seek a judicial review of the decision to make him attend, may still apply to take the issue to the Court of Appeal.

Additional reporting by agencies