Matthew Stott

Matthew is regularly involved in complex care cases for local authorities, parents and guardians. He has been involved in cases concerning infant deaths, shaken babies, fabricated illness, serious sexual and physical abuse, honour based violence including attempted assassination, forced marriage, unlawful removal from the jurisdiction, serious neglect and cases involving breaches of Human Rights. He has a particular interest in cases where there are competing medical opinions and those which engage the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court.

Notable Public Law Children cases

Care proceedings. Child’s injuries found to have been inflicted by the mother. Care and placement orders made.

A fact-finding hearing concerning an application by a local authority for a care order and an application by a mother for the return of her child to the jurisdiction of Pakistan under the court’s inherent jurisdiction.

Local authority’s application for permission to disclose public law judgment to Nursing and Midwifery Council, to inform their investigation into the father’s fitness to practice as a nurse.

A care and placement order application.

Care proceedings in relation to two children, issued following concerns over parenting. Children placed with maternal grandmother under special guardianship order.

Matthew has successfully represented the Local Authority in this case which concerned the issue of whether or not a man is the father of children, as he claimed, despite his refusal to agree to a DNA test. DNA, believed to be that of the father, was gathered at the scene of the murder of the mother, a crime for which the man is currently serving life. The guardian of the children had sought to use the DNA collected in order to determine the paternity of the children concerned, the President found in favour of this.

In his judgement, the President of the Family Division Sir James Munby stated:

“As Mr Matthew Stott on behalf of the local authority points out, because X is not named on their birth certificates, the local authority has at present sole parental responsibility for the children. Moreover, as he also points out, Hogg J has already, in making orders under section 21 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969, determined that it is in the interests of the children that the truth, whatever it may be, should out. I agree with Mr Stott that the material being sought is vitally important for the ongoing care planning for the children. I agree with him that in light of the circumstances of their mother’s death it is fundamentally important for the children to have the opportunity to understand their family history and ascertain their familial identity.”