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Evidence, Practice and Procedure: Children proceedings – evidence from ‘protected’ witnesses
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The status of the evidence of children and of vulnerable witnesses has twice been before the Court of Appeal recently.
Re J (A Child) [2014] EWCA Civ 875 [2014] 2 FLR (forthcoming) was a further rerun of the Supreme Court case (via Pauffley J in the Family Division) of
Re A (Sexual Abuse: Disclosure) [2012] UKSC 60
[2013] 1 FLR 948. The evidence of (a vulnerable witness (X) in child contact proceedings could not be relied on said the Court of Appeal against the father applicant (paras [104] and [110]) after various efforts had been made by Pauffley J to deal with the evidence in a way which was fair to the father.
In
Re B (Child Evidence) [2014] EWCA Civ 1015 the Court of Appeal considered how a court in private children proceedings should receive evidence from another child of the family. She was not a party but might be able to give evidence relevant to findings of fact in the...
Read the full article here.
