A former MP has urged more journalists to provide “more transparency and scrutiny” by covering Court of Protection hearings.

John Hemming, who campaigns for improvements in the family justice system, has made the plea after a miscarriage of justice which saw the court sentence a grandmother to six months in prison.

The court was created under the Mental Health Capacity Act 2005 to make judgements over the property, financial affairs and personal welfare of those it claims are not mentally able to make decisions for themselves.

Mr Hemming, pictured above left, served as Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley from 2005 to 2015. He made the call to journalists after the Court of Appeal overturned a decision by the Court of Protection to sentence 71-year-old Teresa Kirk to six months for breaching its orders.

The judge heading the appeal panel said the “system” had failed in Mrs Kirk’s case – and another appeal suggested that the process which led to her imprisonment had been “mechanical”.

Mr Justice Newton had handed down the prison sentence in August after concluding that Mrs Kirk was in contempt of court for taking an elderly man with dementia to a care home in his native Portugal, in breach of court orders.

During the appeal hearing Lord Justice McFarlane said: “No-one at any stage of it has stood back and said ‘what are we doing here? Sending this 71-year-old lady to a six-month prison sentence in order to achieve a welfare benefit for [the elderly man]?'”

Devon Coutny Council and the Official Solicitor, which acts as a legal representative for people lacking the mental capacity to manage their own affairs had argued against the appeal.

After the hearing, Mr Hemming said: “The system clearly failed in this case. She should not have gone to prison in these circumstances.”

He added: “People would not believe what goes on in the Court of Protection – and in family courts. There needs to be more transparency and more scrutiny.

“Journalists should make sure they take every opportunity to attend hearings. There also needs to be more scrutiny of the work done by the Official Solicitor.”