Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss P said that in abuse cases, evidence: ‘cannot be evaluated in separate compartments. A judge in these difficult cases has to have regard to the relevance of each piece of evidence to other evidence and to exercise an overview of the totality of the evidence in order to come to the conclusion whether the case put forward by the local authority has been made out to the appropriate standard of proof.’
Judges:
Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss P, Potter, Mummery LJJ
Citations:
[2004] EWCA Civ 558, [2004] 2 FLR 838, [2004] Fam Law 709
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – In re L (A Child: Media Reporting) FD 18-Apr-2011
The local authority had intervened on suspecting physical abuse. L was placed with the maternal grandmother who took L to Ireland before care proceedings were commenced. The Irish court found him to have been wrongfully removed, and orders were made . .
Cited – London Borough Council v K and Others FD 12-Apr-2010
The parents disputed contact for the children. The children then made allegations of very serious sex abuse against the father. A police investigation resulted in no action, it being said that the children had been coached to make false allegations . .
Cited – In re P and Q (Children: Care Proceedings: Fact Finding) FC 19-Mar-2015
pandQFC201503
The mother and her partner had accused many people of the satanic ritual abuse of her children. The children had since retracted their complaints.
Held: The complaints by the children had been prompted and manufactured by the mother’s partner . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Children
Updated: 12 September 2022; Ref: scu.439644