Bloomin’ eck! Divorcing fraudster named and shamed but the papers ignore it

by reporting watch team | Apr 1, 2018 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch

Search for ‘bloom divorce’ on google and all you get is items about Orlando Bloom’s ‘painful separation from his wife Miranda Kerr’. This post is about a different and altogether less attractive Mr Bloom (no, not the one off CBeebies...

Worboys : Parole Board transparency and parallels with family courts

by reporting watch team | Mar 31, 2018 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

This week, the Judicial Reviews of the Parole Board’s decision to release serial sex offender John Worboys were successful. Apart from quashing the decision and sending it back to be reconsidered on better evidence, the High Court also struck down that bit of...

When Expert Evidence Goes Wrong – the lessons to be learned

by Sarah P | Mar 28, 2018 | Explanation, FCReportingWatch

C (interim judgment on expert evidence) [2018] EWFC B9 (24 January 2018) This is an ‘ordinary’ family judgment but noteworthy because it shows: The considerable dangers of expert evidence which is not based on clear facts or reliable clinical practice; How...

Why the Court of Protection gave permission for blood samples to be taken in Skripal poisoning case

by Paul M | Mar 26, 2018 | Cases, Court of Protection, Explanation

The alleged poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy now living in England, and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury earlier this month has been prominently reported in the news. Investigations into the nature of the military-grade nerve agent allegedly used on...

Q : What happens when you break an order made by the family court? A : Prison, that’s what

by reporting watch team | Mar 25, 2018 | Cases, FCReportingWatch

There have been a couple of examples of family court judges sending people to prison for deliberately ignoring their orders. Although it doesn’t happen very often, as judges prefer to find another way to deal with matters where possible, family judges can and do send...

Judge tells lawyers off for talking over one another in court

by reporting watch team | Mar 22, 2018 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

In a judgment published on the BAILII website this week, a High Court Judge, Mr Justice MacDonald has criticized barristers involved in a case concerning the contact a 13 year old girl should have with her father, for the way they constantly interrupted one...