Updated at 6.51pm: Former High Court judge Miles Henry Jackson-Lipkin and his wife finally appeared in court on Wednesday to answer the welfare fraud charges against them, following a nine-month delay due to their poor health.
The 81-year-old retired judge and his 80-year-old wife Lucille Yun Shim Jackson-Lipkin were charged last October for failing to disclose all their personal assets in a social welfare application in September 2003.
The pair have also allegedly attempted to make false representation in applying for medical assistance and public housing between February and March 2004.
Television footage on Wednesday showed the white-bearded judge arriving at court wearing a formal dark suit and trademark bowler hat. He was pushing his wife in a wheelchair.
The trial, due to begin in January, had been delayed seven times as the pair had failed to make an appearance, citing health problems.
In his opening address on Wednesday, Senior-Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos SC told the Kowloon City Court the pair concealed their true financial position when applying for social welfare in 2003.
