A woman has lost a court of appeal challenge over her name being removed from a child’s birth certificate after her ex-wife admitted she secretly had sex with their sperm donor. The “unprecedented” and “unusual” case centred on the question of who were the legal parents of a girl, now aged six. The child, referred to as X, was born amid an “informal conception arrangement” between two women and a man they met through an online advert, judges were told. The couple, referred to as P and Q, met the man, F, for the first time in a pub in […]

Setting boundaries in relationships–including the one with your ex is essential. Think of boundaries in your relationships as an important element of your self-care. Boundaries are not meant to punish somebody else. They are meant to honor ourselves. Imagine your boundaries as a personal treaty to help protect your needs and wants and to preserve your well-being, energy, and identity. When we set boundaries, we are setting ourselves up to feel safe and be respected. If you have been in a dysfunctional relationship, chances are there were not healthy boundaries in place. We tolerated behaviors, communication patterns, and actions that, […]

Two million women are estimated to be victims of violence perpetrated by men each year in an epidemic so serious it amounts to a “national emergency”, police chiefs have warned. Crimes including stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence affect one in 12 women in England and Wales, with the number of recorded offences growing by 37% in the past five years and the perpetrators getting younger. The figures are contained in the first national analysis of the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), released on Tuesday. Police chiefs also warned […]

Our criminal justice system is rightly loaded in favour of letting those who are probably guilty walk free to avoid locking up the innocent for crimes they did not commit. Juries are directed to convict a defendant only if they are sure of their guilt. But terrible miscarriages of justice can and do happen. There are supposed to be safeguards in the system to help expose these. Yet a new independent review of the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s handling of the case of Andrew Malkinson – who was imprisoned for 17 years for a violent rape he did not commit […]

The lengthy multi-year sentences handed to Just Stop Oil activists are “not acceptable in a democracy”, a UN special rapporteur has said, as the government faced growing pressure to reverse the previous administration’s “hardline anti-protest” approach. Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur for environmental defenders, joined a growing chorus of voices condemning the sentences handed down to the five defendants for planning non-violent protests on the M25. But the government said it would not intervene in the case, with Keir Starmer’s spokesman saying judgments and sentencing were matters for independent judges, “and it is not for politicians to intervene”. Daniel […]

A former minister overseeing the Post Office has admitted that legal advice on the group litigation was ‘utterly incorrect’ but insisted that the government could not interfere in the process. Kelly Tolhurst, who was a Conservative junior minister for postal affairs from July 2018 to February 2020, was in post during the disastrous Bates litigation robustly defended by the Post Office. Her time also coincided with the decision – again ill-fated – to apply for Mr Justice Fraser to recuse himself. Giving evidence to the Post Office Inquiry yesterday, Tolhurst said the legal advice given about the prospects of success had […]

In May, the Court of Appeal considered the issue of indemnity costs where allegations of dishonesty failed in Thakkar v Mican [2024] EWCA Civ 552. While the underlying case related to personal injury following a road traffic accident, it offers an opportunity to consider the risks of pleading fraud or dishonesty and in what circumstances an indemnity costs award might follow the dismissal of such claims. Conduct issues The April 2024 SRA guidance on abusive litigation lists, as an example of conduct which might indicate abusive litigation, allegations which are made without having made sufficient enquiries of, or with a […]