A Council v Mother & Ors
[2024] EWFC 122 (B)
P & Anor, Re
22 December 2023
[2023] EWFC 276 (B)
Family Court
A baby broke his leg, and the court decided his dad was accidentally responsible because he was clumsy and angry while changing his diaper. The court didn't find the parents guilty of putting the sister at risk from a sex offender because there wasn't enough proof they let her be alone with him.
Key Facts
- •5-week-old P suffered an unexplained oblique fracture of his right femur.
- •The parents' explanations were deemed not credible.
- •R, P's older sibling, had contact with her maternal uncle, Mr. B, a registered sex offender.
- •The Local Authority sought care and placement orders for both children.
- •The mother denied causing P's injury and suggested the father may be responsible.
- •The father had limited engagement with the proceedings and initially denied involvement.
Legal Principles
Burden of proof lies with the local authority; standard of proof is the balance of probabilities.
Re JS [2012] EWHC 1370 (Fam)
Findings of fact must be based on evidence, not speculation.
Re A (A Child) (Fact-finding hearing: Speculation) [2011] EWCA Civ 12
Evidence must be considered holistically, not in separate compartments.
Re T [2004] EWCA Civ 558
Expert medical evidence should be considered in the context of all other evidence.
A County Council & K, D, &L [2005] EWHC 144 (Fam)
The court must assess the credibility and reliability of parents' evidence.
Re W and another (Non-accidental injury) [2003] FCR 346
A witness may lie for various reasons; a lie about some matters doesn't mean they lied about everything.
R v Lucas [1981] QB 720
The possibility that the cause of injury is unknown must be considered.
Re R (Care Proceedings: Causation) [2011] EWHC 1715vFam
To identify a perpetrator, the court must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities.
North Yorkshire County Council v SA [2003] 2 FLR 849
In assessing the expert evidence, the court must consider the totality of the evidence and not inappropriately elevate one kind of evidence over another.
Re A (Children) [2020] EWCA Civ 1230
When considering cases of suspected child abuse the court must take into account all the evidence and furthermore consider each piece of evidence in the context of all the other evidence.
Re T [2004] EWCA Civ 558
Outcomes
The father was found to have recklessly caused P's injury.
The court considered the father's lack of experience, stress, pain, anger, and heavy-handedness in changing P's nappy as contributing factors. The court also noted inconsistencies in the father's evidence and found the mother's evidence to be more credible.
The allegations of sexual harm against both parents were not proven.
The court found insufficient evidence to prove unsupervised contact between R and Mr. B, despite acknowledging potential inconsistencies in the parents' accounts of their contact with him. The court also critiqued the lack of clarity in the Local Authority’s threshold document regarding the definition of harmful contact.