Reported Case

In the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) - On Appeal from the Family Court at Bristol - His Honour Judge Marston

This is an appeal, pursuant to permission given on 2 January 2015 by Lewison LJ, from a judgment and order of His Honour Judge Marston sitting in the Family Court at Bristol on 31 October 2014.

Judge Marston had been conducting a finding of fact hearing in the course of care proceedings relating to a little boy, L, and his siblings. L was born on 10 January 2013. The judge made a number of findings against L's mother. Far and away the most significant was about the circumstances in which L had almost drowned on 18 August 2013, when he was therefore only some seven months old. The judge found that the mother had deliberately harmed L by drowning. The mother accepts that she had been negligent in leaving L unattended in the bath for a short period, but denies deliberately drowning him. Through her counsel, she argues before us that the judge's decision against her was wrong.

Find full details of this case on Bailii’s website here.