Aidan Vine KC and Jason Green in Slough Children First v Mother & Ors [2024] EWFC 31
5th Mar 2024 | Cases
Aidan Vine KC led Nairn Purss of 4 Brick Court, instructed by Barrett and Thomson, they represented the Second Respondent Father and Jason Green, instructed by Oxford Law Group, represented the Third Respondent Child in Slough Children First v Mother & Ors [2024] EWFC 31 a fact-finding hearing during care proceedings regarding a young Child who suffered fractures to her lower left leg on two separate occasions while in the care of her parents. The court found that the parents had sought medical attention promptly and during the seven days while the Child was in hospital, no concerns were expressed by medical professionals about the parents’ behaviour towards the Child. The expert evidence was that the fractures were as ‘the result of significant force applied to the bone. The amount of force required to cause these fractures is unknown, but in my opinion, it is significant, excessive and greater than that used in the normal care and handling of a child.’ The court found that it was unknown whether the Child’s vitamin D deficiency resulted in increased bone fragility compared to children without this deficiency and the force required to fracture this Child’s leg remained ‘unknown’. In view of these findings and an unblemished parenting record, the court found that the fractures were not perpetrated by either parent using force beyond that which it would be reasonable for a parent to use.
