POLICE

A claimant failed to show that disclosure on enhanced criminal record certificates of an allegation of sexual assault of which he had been acquitted was disproportionate and inaccurate.

At a fact-finding hearing relating to the death and possible sexual assault of a child, the court highlighted difficulties with the approach to police disclosure outlined in the 2013 Protocol and Good Practice Model and made detailed suggestions for new procedural guidelines, subject to formal review by the President of the Family Division.

The practice of police officers visiting the homes of registered sex offenders for the purpose of monitoring their behaviour under arrangements made pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.325 did not constitute an unlawful interference with the offenders’ rights under the ECHR art.8.

A doctor’s rights under ECHR art.8 would not be breached by the police disclosing information which had been unlawfully obtained during their investigation into a patient’s allegation of sexual assault against him to the General Medical Council for the purposes of its inquiry into the doctor’s fitness to practise.

Magistrates had erred in dismissing the appeal of a convicted sex offender against a decision of a detective, acting on behalf of the chief constable, not to end the offender’s notification requirements.

Where the failure by police to conduct an effective investigation into allegations of rape had been held to amount to breaches of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the ECHR art.3, the victims of the rapes were entitled to a financial remedy for harm caused by the police failings on top of sums received in civil claims for the harm caused by the rapes. The court examined the statutory framework, relevant legal principles, previous authorities, and the existence of alternative remedies, and awarded sums of £22,250 and £19,000 respectively.

The inclusion of certain information on an individual’s enhanced criminal record certificate about an unsubstantiated allegation of sexual assault constituted a disproportionate interference with his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 art.8 where that information had an arguably unreliable basis and effectively ended the individual’s prospects of obtaining work in the caring community.

The court expressed concerns about the professional response to the death of a 13-month-old child who had died suddenly and in unexplained circumstances whilst in her parents’ care. In particular, it criticised the police failure to undertake any real investigation until nine months after the child’s death and the local authority’s failure to take legal advice and start proceedings for a similar period. Those failures affected the court’s ability to make findings of fact about the cause of the death during care proceedings.

An employer was justified, on grounds of reputational risk and a breakdown of trust and confidence, in dismissing an employee after the police had disclosed that the employee posed a risk to children, where it had discharged its duty to make a reasonable investigation.