24th Nov 2020Articles
In the landmark ruling of R (on the application of Maughan) v. Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire [2020] UKSC 46, the Supreme Court has held that the standard of proof that applies in Coroners’ Inquests is the balance of probabilities, regardless of the particular conclusion, or what form it takes. The landmark ruling, which […]
5th Nov 2020Newsletters
Introduction The Court of Appeal has recently delivered an interesting and potentially very significant judgment in the case of Officer W80. The case concerned the use of force by a police officer and whether misconduct proceedings could subsequently be instituted against him on the basis of his honestly held but mistaken belief. Facts The […]
5th Nov 2020Newsletters
Dr Haris faced allegations from two patients that he had conducted non-clinically indicated, intimate examinations without consent. He asserted forcefully that the alleged conduct simply never happened – and also called additional evidence to support his position that he was asexual. The MPT accepted the evidence of the two patients and found the majority of […]
5th Nov 2020Newsletters
In R (Skelton) v The Senior Coroner for West Sussex and Others [2020] EWHC 2813 Admin the High Court again grappled with the vexed question of the engagement of Article 2 in coronial proceedings. The factual background is as extraordinary as it is disturbing. The claimants in the case were the parents of Susan Nicholson, […]
28th Oct 2020Newsletters
Most practitioners will have had cases where the reasoning of a tribunal as to why they believed a complainant against a professional amounted to little more than “we found him/her to be a credible and convincing witness”. In the absence of any other way of deciding between two competing accounts a tribunal may be forced […]