John Vater KC in A Council v JC & Ors [2025] EWFC 440
6th Jan 2026 | Cases
John Vater KC, instructed by RWK Goodman, represented the 3rd Respondent (L) a very young child in A Council v JC & Ors [2025] EWFC 440; care proceedings, issued following the death of L’s sibling. John led Alice Darian of Albion Chambers.
L was born in 2024 and is now just over one year old. His half-brother M (then 20 months) died in December 2022 from catastrophic head injuries while in the care of L’s mother and father (who was not M’s father). Both parents have troubled histories involving significant drug use and violent relationships. Both parents gave inconsistent and dishonest accounts about the circumstances of M’s collapse and their own drug use and domestic abuse.
After assessing the medical evidence, the court accepted that M’s injuries were caused by one or other parent and that there was an unjustified delay in seeking medical help for M and that they had deleted mobile phone messages in order to conceal what had really taken place. However, because both parents lied and each had opportunity, the judge could not identify which was the perpetrator and therefore placed both in the pool of possible perpetrators.
The mother has serious mental health and relationship difficulties, ongoing substance misuse and poor engagement with support and was therefore not capable of safely caring for L. The father did not seek care. L is thriving with his foster carers, and the court approved a Special Guardianship Order in their favour with limited, supervised contact for the mother.
