SZR v Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
| Judge | Mrs Justice Hill |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 598 (KB) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Court | King's Bench Division |
| Counsel | Sam Jacobs,Katie Ayres |
| Date | 15 March 2024 |
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 598 (KB)
Case No: QB-2021-002519
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING’S BENCH DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 15/03/2024
Before :
MRS JUSTICE HILL DBE
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Between :
SZR (a protected Party, by her Litigation Friend,
The Official Solicitor)
Claimant
- and -
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Defendant
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Sam Jacobs (instructed by Leigh Day Solicitors) for the Claimant
Katie Ayres (instructed by Forbes Solicitors) for the Defendant
Hearing date: 13 February 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 2pm on 15 March 2024 by circulation to the
parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.
.............................
MRS JUSTICE HILL
MRS JUSTICE HILL
Approved Judgment
SZR v Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Mrs Justice Hill DBE:
Introduction
1.The Claimant is a 24-year-old woman, who has autism, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (“ADHD”) and learning difficulties. She gives instructions bythe Official
Solicitor. The Defendant is the local authority in whose care she was placed on 13
July 2018.
2.By a claim issued on 8 October 2021, the Claimant brings proceedings under section
6 of the Human Rights Act 1998(“the HRA”) for a violation of her rights under
Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. These are,
respectively, the right to protection from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and
the right to respect for private and family life.
3.The Claimant’s case is that she suffered serious neglect over a period of several years
while being cared for by her mother. She contends that while the Defendant’s
professionals were involved with her family at various points from April 2012,
effective action was only taken shortly after the adult social care team became
involved after her 18th birthday in September 2017; and that the Defendant’s failure to
take earlier action violated its positive obligations to protect her under Articles 3 and
8.
4.By an application dated 4 April 2023 the Defendant sought summary judgment on the
Claimant’s claim under CPR 24.2; or alternatively an order to strike out the claim
under CPR 3.4(2)(a). This is my judgment on that application, which was heard on 13
February 2024. I was greatly assisted by the written and oral submissions from both
counsel.
The Claimant’s claim
5.The Claimant was born in 1999. She is the oldest child of her mother, and she has one
sister who is four years younger. Both children lived with theirmother in housing
association property in Blackburn. The Claimant attended a Special School under a
Statement of Special Educational Needs which was made in September 2004.
6.Her claim focusses on the Defendant’s involvement with her family over three key
periods: (i) towards the end of 2013; (ii) between March and October 2014; and (iii)
between April 2016 and December 2017. During each of these periods it is said that
there were numerous occasionson which protectiveactionby the Defendant was
warranted.
7.She relies on the obligation, in certain well-defined circumstances, to take operational
measures to protect specific individuals against a risk of treatment contrary to Article
3. It arises where the authority “knew or ought to have known at the time of the
existence of a real and immediate risk of ill-treatment of an identified individual from
the…acts of a third party and that they failed to take measures within the scope of
their powers which, judged reasonably, might have been expected to avoid the risk”:
X v Bulgaria (2021) 50 BHRC 244 at [178] and [184], cited inAB v Worcestershire
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