Court Report: Disclosure of serious allegations
Coram Children's Legal Centre
Monday, October 15, 2012
Case name: J (A Child: Disclosure); Case number: [2012] EWCA Civ 1204; Judges: LJ Thorpe, LJ Hallett and LJ McFarlane; Location: Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has ordered the disclosure of serious allegations made against a parent by an anonymous third party in contact proceedings.
At the High Court, Peter Jackson J was of the view that unless X (anonymous third party) could give oral evidence, X disclosing her identity and the substance of her allegations would not be helpful to the court.
X was (in medical reports presented to the court) likely to suffer detrimentally in respect of her mental and physical health if the information held by the local authority were to be disclosed and if X were required to give evidence at court.
On appeal, it was argued that the issue of the disclosure and whether X may be required to give evidence were separate questions, and that in any event it was wrong not to disclose the allegations to the child’s guardian.
At the Court of Appeal, MacFarlane LJ looked at Re D (Minors) (Adoption Reports: Confidentiality) [1996] AC 593 when considering the extent of the disclosure and whether X’s identity should be revealed to the parties.
It was held that the balance of rights came down in favour of the disclosure of X’s identity and of the records of the substance of her sexual abuse allegations to the mother, father and A’s children’s guardian.
