Ombudsman finds Bedfordshire man failed by council and health service – BBC News
‘Health and social care officials have been criticised for letting a severely mentally ill patient live in “squalor”.’
BBC News, 12th June 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: mental health
A new test to determine who is fit for trial – Law Commission
‘How do we determine whether someone accused of a crime is physically and mentally fit to participate in a criminal trial? And what do we do if they are not? These are the questions being examined today as the Law Commission brings together leading experts in criminal law and mental health to exchange views at a consultation event at Leeds University.’
Law Commission, 11th June 2014
Source: www.lawcommission.justice.gov.uk
Man, 35, jailed after stripping half naked in cathedral and punching OAP in ‘divine urge’ – The Independent
‘He said he had the compulsion to “give everything to God,” but the actions of a 35-year-old man who pulled down his trousers before climbing on top of an altar and punching a grandmother in the face certainly didn’t appease the CPS.’
The Independent, 9th June 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Care for teenage karate champion so bad it ‘breached human rights’, coroner rules – Daily Telegraph
‘Dana Baker, who represented Great Britain in karate, killed herself after “serious and systematic failings” in her care by a council that was too busy and overworked to help her.’
Daily Telegraph, 29th May 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Regina (Wiltshire Council) v Hertfordshire County Council – WLR Daily
Regina (Wiltshire Council) v Hertfordshire County Council [2014] EWCA Civ 712; [2014] WLR (D) 229
‘Where a person had been made subject to a hospital order with restrictions, then conditionally discharged, then recalled to hospital, and then conditionally discharged for a second time, for the purposes of section 117(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983 he was still to be treated as “resident in the area” of the same local authority as that in which he lived before the original hospital order was made.’
WLR Daily, 22nd May 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
PA sacked by her boss after wife found out about their affair awarded £35,000 damages – Daily Telegraph
‘A personal assistant sacked from her job at a successful property company by her boss after his wife found out about their affair has been awarded nearly £35,000 in damages. ‘
Daily Telegraph, 29th May 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘We are recreating Bedlam’: the crisis in prison mental health services – The Guardian
‘Mental health services in prison are under critical strain – in some institutions, as many as half of all inmates may need psychiatric help, but are often unable to get it. Such failures can have tragic results.’
The Guardian, 24th May 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Court of Appeal confirms principle on responsibility for s. 117 after-care funding – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Court of Appeal has confirmed the principle that the placing authority remains liable for funding s. 117 Mental Health Act 1983 after-care.’
Local Government Lawyer, 22nd May 2014
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Unsted Park ‘self-harm blades’ head teacher cleared – BBC News
‘A former head teacher who gave a girl at a special school equipment for self-harming has been cleared of unacceptable professional misconduct.’
BBC News, 16th May 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Cheshire West: liberate social policy from the influence of human rights – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
‘Social policy towards those without capacity changed on 19 March 2014. It changed not as a result of a public discussion about the issue but because of a judgment given by the Supreme Court – Cheshire West [2014] UKSC 19. The change was not preceded by a Royal Commission, Green Paper, debate in Parliament or any other engagement with the public, but after seven judges received legal submissions from 17 barristers. The change was not determined by the needs of those in care, but by the requirements of human rights laws.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 13th May 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
Press has no direct role in welfare proceedings in Court of Protection – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Sir James Munby, President of the Court of Protection has ruled that the Daily Mail has no standing to be joined as a party in welfare proceedings in relation to a vulnerable adult who has been declared by the courts as lacking capacity under the Mental Health Act.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 12th May 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Regina (Lee-Hirons) v Secretary of State for Justice and another – WLR Daily
‘Where the Secretary of State recalled a person to be detained in hospital under section 42(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Secretary of State was not under a duty at common law nor under article 5.1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to give his reasons for the person’s detention immediately when he was detained and thus such reasons were not required to be given in writing upon detention. However, article 5.2 required those reasons to be adequately and promptly given to him following his detention.’
WLR Daily, 1st May 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
In re KP (A Child) (Abduction: Rights of Custody) – WLR Daily
In re KP (A Child) (Abduction: Rights of Custody): [2014] EWCA Civ 554; [2014] WLR (D) 181
‘The role of a judge meeting a child who was the subject of abduction proceedings under the Hague Convention should be largely that of a passive recipient of whatever communication the child wished to transmit, which the judge should not probe or seek to test.’
WLR Daily, 1st May 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Train driver traumatised by death on tracks fights loss of compensation – The Independent
‘It was around midday on 31 March 2012 that Nik Douglas’s life changed forever. The 37-year-old train driver was travelling through Northallerton station on the way to Newcastle when he saw a man in his sixties standing alone on the platform. He thought nothing of the lone figure, turning instead to check the opposite platform. By the time Mr Douglas looked back again, the man was crouching on the tracks in front of his train. But because of a recent change in the law, Mr Douglas could be the last person in the country to receive compensation for such trauma.’
The Independent, 5th May 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Haroon Aswat extradition decision postponed until June – BBC News
‘Home Secretary Theresa May has been given two months to seek assurances from the US about how a terror suspect will be treated if he is extradited.’
BBC News, 16th April 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Supreme Court to hear case on EU migrants and temporary inability to work – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an EU national’s appeal over a ruling that he was not eligible for housing assistance from a local authority as his inability to work was not temporary.’
Local Government Lawyer, 14th April 2014
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
“A gilded cage is still a cage” – Supreme Court on deprivation of liberty for the mentally incapacitated – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Mentally incapacitated people have the same rights to liberty as everyone else. If their own living arrangements would amount to a deprivation of liberty of a non-disabled individual then these would also be a deprivation of liberty for the disabled person. So says the Supreme Court, which has ruled that disabled people are entitled to periodic independent checks to ensure that the deprivation of liberty remains justified.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 8th April 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
