Lancashire County Council v M
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Hayden |
| Judgment Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Neutral Citation | [2023] EWHC 3097 (Fam) |
| Court | Family Division |
| Docket Number | Case No: PR22C50265 |
and
and
[2023] EWHC 3097 (Fam)
Mr Justice Hayden
Case No: PR22C50265
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
FAMILY DIVISION
Sitting in Lancaster Family Court
Ms Samantha Bowcock KC and Mr Paul Hart (instructed by Stephensons Solicitors as agents for Lancashire County Council) for the Applicant Local Authority
Mr Jones KC and Mr Gilmore (instructed by Clarkson Hirst Solicitors) for the 1 st Respondent
Miss Gill Irving KC and Miss Kathryn Korol (instructed by Holdens Solicitors) for the 2 nd Respondent
Miss Sarah Probert (instructed by Vanguards Solicitors) for the 3 rd Respondent
Hearing dates: 30 th October – 1 st November 2023
Approved Judgment
I direct that pursuant to CPR PD 39A para 6.1 no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic.
The judge has given leave for this version of the judgment to be published on condition that (irrespective of what is contained in the judgment) in any published version of the judgment the anonymity of the children and members of their family must be strictly preserved. All persons, including representatives of the media, must ensure that this condition is strictly complied with. Failure to do so will be a contempt of court.
THE HONOURABLE Mr Justice Hayden
I am concerned with two children, A, age 5 years and J, age 3 years. The Local Authority was first involved in A's life in 2019, when care proceedings were commenced, arising from her exposure to parental domestic abuse. There is no dispute in this case that the father (F) has consistently behaved in a violent and controlling manner towards the mother (M). He admits that when intoxicated by alcohol, he behaves violently and aggressively. His verbal abuse of M is particularly vituperative, calculated to belittle and demean her. F was convicted of an offence of battery of M in May 2021. This involved an incident of strangulation; it was met by a custodial sentence, which was suspended. Only a few months later, July 2021, there were further serious incidents between the couple. At the conclusion of the care proceedings, a Supervision Order was made, predicated on the assumption that the parents had separated. They had not.
During the course of the proceedings and at the time that the Supervision Order was made, M repeatedly reassured the social workers and health visitors that she and F were no longer living together. F recounted the same false story to his probation officer. In fact, throughout the entire period, M and F were together as a couple with F staying in the same house. It would appear that the professionals were entirely credulous and made no robust attempt to test the truth of the accounts they were given, for example by way of spot checks and unannounced visits. The paternal grandparents had been charged with the responsibility for supervising F's contact. Whether checks were made in relation to that, I am unclear. M and F's relationship has, self-evidently, been an enduring one.
In August 2021, the Local Authority was notified of M's pregnancy with a third child. F was the father. The baby (R) was born in March 2022. The records reveal a healthy little boy whose progress was entirely developmentally normal. It is significant that on the 19 th April 2022, the health visitor carried out the new birth visit, at home, where amongst other matters she conducted, as she is required to with every newborn, a safer sleep assessment. In the questionnaire completed with M, M stated that she never took R into her bed with her. She also claimed, falsely as it transpired, that she did not share her bed with anybody else. She denied, again dishonestly, that she did not abuse alcohol or take drugs. A standard booklet was left with her from the Lullaby Trust. In clear and accessible terms, that handbook emphasises babies should always be placed on their back for sleep and given a clear, flat, separate sleep space in the same room as the parents. Firm guidelines are identified, specifically “no pods, nests or sleep positioners”.
The safer sleep assessment was reviewed on the 5 th May 2022 on a further home visit. M, again, told the health visitor that she was living on her own with the children, with their father seeing them at their paternal grandfather's home. She also stated that R slept in his Moses basket. This too, she later accepted as entirely untrue.
The dishonesty of these accounts was tragically revealed on a disastrous weekend in late May 2022. M and F attended the wedding of F's sister. M had taken A and J in advance of F and R, to take part in wedding hair and beauty preparations. M began drinking in the afternoon. She continued to drink heavily throughout the day. Shortly before midnight, M and F went to a room that they had booked on the ground floor of the hotel, to put J and R to bed. A had gone to bed earlier in a room occupied by an aunt. At some point in the evening, the paternal grandfather advised the couple to “slow down” because they were plainly drinking too much and certainly, far too much to be responsible for such a young baby. A night porter in the hotel had seen the couple on the dance floor and had commented that they were ‘steaming’ drunk.
It is now clear, as the mother has stated, that R (aged 2 months) was placed in the double bed. He was not changed but remained in the clothes that he had worn for the wedding. M and J also got into the bed. M too went to bed fully clothed. F left the room and returned to the hotel bar where he had more to drink with his family. Eventually, he returned to the room to roll a joint of cannabis, which he went to smoke, outside, before finally going to bed. When he returned and started to undress, he noticed that R's entire body had been covered by the duvet. He pulled it back immediately and discovered R lying with his face towards his mother's, lifeless and floppy. F ran from the room, plainly and understandably greatly distressed, carrying R in his arms. He made his way to reception to seek assistance from the hotel staff.
Very shortly before 3am, a member of the hotel staff dialled 999. The police were at the scene within 7 minutes and the first two paramedics within 8 minutes. R was in cardiac arrest and received CPR. A total of 4 paramedics worked with R until they were able to restore his heartbeat and transfer him to hospital, shortly before 4am. Later that day, R was transferred to a children's hospital specialising in intensive care. Tragically, his condition became moribund and the parents, sadly but properly, upon receiving medical advice, agreed that he should be taken off life support. Death is recorded as having occurred at 14:50 on that day.
The Local Authority applied for Care Orders in respect of A and J in June 2022. Both girls have been cared for by their paternal grandparents since the 30 th May 2022 i.e., from the day R died. Assessments of their capacity to care for the children have been positive. It is agreed that the quality of care they provided to their son (F) had also been of good quality. In this respect, it differed greatly from M's own childhood, which was traumatic.
In June 2022, M applied for a Non-Molestation Order against F. Her statement in support of that application has been the subject of scrutiny in these proceedings. This statement permits of no ambiguity. M is alleging that F has been controlling of her freedom, denigrating of her, violent and has caused significant damage to the property. This is stated in express terms to be “following” R's birth on 11 th March 2022. M does not resile from the allegations but now suggests that these incidents “might have” occurred before R's birth. Given that they were all included in a statement supporting an application for an injunction, made on 22 nd June 2022, I consider M's professed confusion to be disingenuous. The passage below could not be clearer. Moreover, it was drafted with the assistance of experienced lawyers.
“We notified the local authority, and we underwent a child and family assessment in March 2021. Both [F] and I were working with the Local Authority at that time and had safeguarding plan in place and strategies to manage potential or any conflict. Subsequent to this, [R] was born on 11 th March 2022.
Following this time, [F]'s behaviour continued to deteriorate.”
There is no doubt that both parents have been deeply and profoundly shocked by the circumstances of R's death. The removal of A and J from the house further compounds their sadness. Their grief and guilt is, perhaps inevitably, a heavy burden for them. They have sought solace and support in each other.
Ms Bowcock KC, counsel for the local authority, acknowledges that the couple has been, during the assessments following R's death, “relatively open and honest about their substance abuse”. This candour extends not only to the period prior to R's death but in the months that followed. The local authority accepts that the information emerging from hair strand blood and alcohol testing reports reveals that F has addressed a longstanding and heavy use of cannabis. It is also the case that his consumption of alcohol has decreased significantly. Notwithstanding this, however, he is revealed to take cocaine recreationally and continues to drink alcohol. The most up to date tests were only a few weeks ago, revealing that F had used cocaine between early and late September 2023. He had also either consumed cannabis in late August/early September or had passive exposure to it during that period. There was no evidence of excess alcohol use detected. This is a very significant change in F's behaviour and requires to be identified as such.
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