Christopher McWatters

Successful appeal against a finding of fact where the judge had applied the wrong standard of proof.

Successful judicial review against the Secretary of State for the Home Department, where the court concluded that there had been a failure by the SSHD to properly consider relevant psychiatric evidence in making a negative conclusive grounds decision in a human trafficking case.

Appeal against a finding at a re hearing that a child had been injured by her mother’s boyfriend. The appeal was allowed on the basis that the judge was wrong to have confined the ambit of the rehearing when the fresh evidence was relevant, not only to the identification of a possible perpetrator, but also whether the injuries had been inflicted at all.

In this case, the Court of Appeal concluded that the decision of a circuit judge, in dealing with an appeal against an order that there should be no contact between a father and son, had not been invalidated simply because he approached his task by considering whether or not the decision had been ‘plainly wrong’. What mattered was whether or not he had engaged the parties Article 8 Rights, as envisaged in both Re B and Re A.

This case concerned delay and ultimate refusal by the LSC to grant prior authority for the instruction of an independent social worker to perform a parenting and risk assessment of parents. The President of the Family Division provided Guidance on seeking prior authority from the LSC for instructing an expert witness in family proceedings.

Defended the father in care proceedings brought by a local authority, which accused the parents of “baby shaking”. Led by Ian Peddie QC, Chris demonstrated, with the assistance of expert witnesses, that the baby’s death had been caused by undiagnosed congenital rickets, leaving the child prone to fractures and infection.

The court should not delegate decisions over contact to a local authority in private law proceedings.