In the words of the song, the ‘secret’ Court of Protection is ‘no secret anymore’ because since January 2016, hearings are held in open court, unless the circumstances are exceptional. Applications for committal for contempt are always held in open court.
We have written about this here.
This has not stopped the Telegraph trotting out ‘secret’ again this week:
‘It is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding the Court of Protection, which sits largely in secret but which must publish details of any case in which it imprisons someone.’
Nor the Mail:
‘Teresa Kirk was given six months in prison by a judge in the secret Court of Protection, it emerged yesterday…. the facts of the case remain surrounded by secrecy’.
However, you can read the judgment here. The hearing was in open court and the facts are set out. It is not clear why publication was delayed for more than a month, but it may well be a practical reason, as transcripts can take quite a while to complete and check carefully.
The facts of the case are surrounded by secrecy, the facts. The delayed publication of the committal to prison only outline the reason, The case was first put to the COP September 09 2014. Do you really believe a case that has taken this long and involves another Country’s jurisdiction, only warrants a few lines of explanation to the public. You need to get your head out of the clouds. Do your research. GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT.
Dear Robert Church,
Thank you for your comments. We aren’t going to publish your other comment which identifies the person at the centre of the case. I’m sorry you think our coverage is inaccurate, but we have done our best on the basis of published material. We also wrote in a bit more detail about it here : http://www.transparencyproject.org.uk/the-terrifying-tale-of-how-britains-most-secret-court-imprisoned-a-grandmother-aka-court-enforces-its-own-orders-and-publishes-judgment-for-the-world-to-see/, and in that longer blog post we identify, as you have, that it would be useful if more information were available.
Lucy