IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM YORK COUNTY COURT AND FAMILY COURT
(HER HONOUR JUDGE FINNERTY)
Strand London, WC2 |
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B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE McFARLANE
LADY JUSTICE KING
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IN THE MATTER OF | ||
B (A CHILD) |
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Mr J Hayes QC & Ms D Campbell (instructed by Crombie Wilkinson) appeared on behalf of the Respondent
Ms D Adcock appeared on behalf of the Guardian
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Crown Copyright ©
Filing of a Respondent's Statement in response to an Appellant's Notice.
"52. There is no question of this court interfering with, or indeed being asked to interfere with, the findings of primary fact made by the Judge. Bearing in mind that it is a second appeal tribunal, the Supreme Court is virtually never even asked to reconsider findings of primary fact made by the trial judge. The Court of Appeal, as a first appeal tribunal, will only rarely even contemplate reversing a trial judge's findings of primary fact.
53. As Lady Hale and Lord Kerr explain in para 200 and para 108 respectively, this is traditionally and rightly explained by reference to good sense, namely that the trial judge has the benefit of assessing the witnesses and actually hearing and considering their evidence as it emerges. Consequently, where a trial judge has reached a conclusion on the primary facts, it is only in a rare case, such as where that conclusion was one (i) which there was no evidence to support, (ii) which was based on a misunderstanding of the evidence, or (iii) which no reasonable judge could have reached, that an appellate tribunal will interfere with it. This can also be justified on grounds of policy (parties should put forward their best case on the facts at trial and not regard the potential to appeal as a second chance), cost (appeals on fact can be expensive), delay (appeals on fact often take a long time to get on), and practicality (in many cases, it is very hard to ascertain the facts with confidence, so a second, different, opinion is no more likely to be right than the first)."
"If the appellant seeks permission to appeal a respondent is permitted, and is encouraged, within 14 days of service of the appellant's notice or skeleton argument if later to file and serve upon the appellant and any other respondent a brief statement of any reasons why permission should be refused, in whole or in part."
The balance of the new rule sets out the prescribed length and content of such a statement.
The Appeal
"The first respondent mother [MB] suffered a significant deterioration in her mental health from March 2014 while caring for [EB]. This included hallucinating, exhibiting pressure of speech and paranoid ideas."
The mother further conceded, within the threshold, that her behaviour had been "erratic, confrontational, highly anxious, emotional and agitated and that such behaviour would have interfered with her ability to parent EB". She further accepted that at the time the proceedings were initiated she lacked insight into her behaviour and the impact upon her parenting capacity. Her case at trial was that she has now gained such insight.
Grounds of Appeal
(1) that the process of which the court arrived at its conclusions in relation to fabricated symptoms were "unduly harsh in the context of the mother's complex neurological and psychiatric history". The mother sought to admit neuro psychological evidence in order to demonstrate her vulnerability. Whilst not formally admitting such reports as fresh evidence, the court has read two new reports filed by the mother for our consideration. They were (i) from Candy Clarkson, an educational consultant, who says the mother suffers from ADHD and secondly, from Dr Annie Hickox, a consultant psychologist, who speaks of the mother having a "concrete" and "inflexible cognitive style" and who benefits from dealing with one topic at a time. She identified what she considered to be Asperger's Syndrome traits which, she said, merited formal assessment.
Analysis
The Eyes
The mother's state of knowledge.
"... it is my recollection ... that the mother had received bundles before the trial, had read them and at many points through the hearing would bring specific documents to my attention for us to consider. Each time she did so we considered those documents with her to advise whether they were actually relevant to her case."
At paragraph 24:
"I had the medical notes and had read them. At different points during the hearing, and in conference with the mother, I took instruction on the relevant medical notes and considered them fully with her. On a number of occasions during the hearing, the mother would identify specific documents for medical records to bring to my attention, which were considered jointly each time she raised one."