Judge allows Court of Protection Case to be reported in “real time”

A case being brought against the local authority by the son of a 92 year old father could be reported in "real time".  DJ the adult son of SJ claims that his father has been unlawfully deprived of his liberty whilst being detained in a care home since 22 February 2011.  The son also claims that he has been denied unsupervised access to his father.

The Local Authority contests this and argues, that the decision to detain SJ is based on "straightforward health and welfare matters" and "safeguarding issues".  They have pointed to bruising which was apparent on SJ's body when he was admitted to the care home and that there had been suspicions that the bruising had been inflicted by DJ.  These suspicions were strengthened when SJ had claimed that DJ had hurt him in the past.  DJ strongly denies these accusations and suggests that the bruising may have been caused when he had tried to control his father when he became agitated.  He also argued that his father's Alzheimer's disease caused him to make wrongful accusation. 

The case will be heard in the Court of Protection and it is thought that this could be the first time that detailed reporting of this type has been allowed since the Court was set up in 2007.  Mr Justice Ryder ruled that this was a "paradigm case in an area which happens to be at the forefront of public awareness, [and is] therefore not just of general public interest but of specific public interest".  Mr Justice Ryder also ordered that "fairly generous access to material" in the evidence produced by both parties be available.  This will allow the public to follow the case from beginning to end and clearly see the decision making process in the Court of Protection.