BRITISH KANGAROO COURTS FINALLY OPENED UP

A couple whose three children were taken from them and put up for adoption in what they claim was a “catastrophic and draconian” miscarriage of justice have succeeded in having their fight to keep their fourth child heard in open court. In an unprecedented ruling yesterday that lifts the curtain of secrecy from family court proceedings, a judge gave Nicola Webster, 26, and her partner, Mark Webster, 33, from Cromer, Norfolk, the right to tell their story publicly.

The couple, whose case has received widespread newspaper coverage under Mrs Webster’s maiden name, Hardingham, will today appear in the High Court, where the future of their five-month-old son, Brandon, will be decided. Mr Justice Munby, a senior Family Division judge, said that he was relaxing the “very drastic reporting restrictions” imposed in June to allow the facts to be subjected to scrutiny. He said that an issue of “high principle” was involved, that of ensuring justice was administered openly.

In a case where a miscarriage of justice had been claimed, he said, “it is more than usually important that the truth — the full truth — should out. If, as the parents allege, they have lost three children and stand at risk of losing a fourth due to deficiencies in the system, then there is a pressing need for the true facts to be exposed. “If, on the other hand, the parents are wrong, and the system has performed conscientiously, competently and correctly, then it is equally highly desirable that this should be known and publicised.”

The decision, which marks the first time that private care proceedings have been open to public scrutiny, comes after moves at government level to expose private family courts to the media. The Government and the judiciary have come under mounting pressure for more transparency amid concerns that courts are removing children from their parents on often flimsy medical evidence and claims that unaccountability in the family courts leads to miscarriages of justice.

The judge, who has given evidence to a House of Commons select committee on the issue, continued orders banning the naming of the Websters’ three older children, who were the subject of care proceedings in May and November 2004. All three have been adopted.

All the care proceedings, by Norfolk County Council, are based on a claim that one of the older children had been physically abused by their parents. “This is an allegation that they have always denied,” the judge said. “They assert that the children were wrongly taken from them on the basis of flawed and incomplete medical and other evidence.”

The “very considerable media attention” in the Websters’ case began when they went to Ireland to have Brandon, afraid that he, too, would be taken from them. When they returned home the family were placed in a residential unit for a detailed assessment. Because of the publicity about the case, a deputy High Court judge imposed substantial reporting restrictions in June, including banning the reporting of facts already published. Moves to lift the restrictions were taken by the Websters, the BBC and Associated Newspapers. Brandon’s guardian opposed any further reporting or broadcasting of the proceedings.

Mr Justice Munby said, however, that the press and other media had a public watchdog role in cases where a miscarriage of justice was claimed. He said that it had also been argued that the local authority might wish to speak out to correct what it said were misleading accounts of the case. “The fact that the parents may not be the martyrs they claim to be — something which I am in absolutely no position to assess and on which I express no views at all — the fact that it may turn out there there was no miscarriage of justice, is not of itself any reason for denying the parents their voice.”

Sarah Harman, the solicitor representing the Websters, said: “What we are dealing with is the State intervening in a family and removing three children from them. It is one of the most draconian and catastrophic things that can happen.”

Report here



(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)