Police Disclosure to the Family Court and the Use of Special Advocates: Uncharted Waters

LUCY THEIS QC and JOANNA YOULL Barristers Field Court Chambers Gray's Inn

It is common practice in public law children proceedings where there have been are or are likely to be criminal proceedings involving one of the parties to invoke the Police Family Disclosure Protocol and subsequently seek a direction against the police for disclosure of information in its possession to the court. The process can often be protracted and it is the experience of many practitioners that the police are often reluctant to be forthcoming with information when an investigation is ongoing. In Re T (Wardship: Impact of Police Intelligence) [2009] EWHC 2440 (Fam) [2010] 1 FLR (forthcoming but see comment by Professor Douglas in [2010] Fam Law 19) Mr Justice McFarlane addressed the unusual situation of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) voluntarily involving itself in wardship proceedings with information that it did not want disseminated to the parties. This proved to be uncharted waters and led to the use of special advocates for what is believed to be the first time in a family court.

There are in essence two ways the court can approach the issue of public interest immunity...

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