Powers of magistrates to enforce child arrangement orders with contempt legislation
Dear Ministry of Justice,
In relation to NG16P00409 on 19/04/2017, at Nottingham Family Court, Lay Justices Mr W Jennings and Mr C Whamrby sentenced Heaven Allsop, to a suspended custodial sentence of 56 days for contempt of court.
( https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publication... )
Please provide the following information:
1. Under what statutory provision did the Magistrates assume and exercise power to commit the contemnor to prison, that is:
- Act, section, subsection
2. What section of court rules were applied?
i.e. Family Procedure Rules 2010, part, section etc
3. How much notice was given to the Press and how was that notice given?
4. How much notice was provided the mother of the committal hearing?
5. At what time was she given written notice of her right to publicly funded legal representation?
6. Please give an outline of the events leading to the committal hearing:
i.e:
a. dates of child arrangement order made;
b. dates it was breached and how, each time
c. process by which commital proceedings were initiated ie (i) by the justices own motion or (ii) by application of the parent in whose benefit the child arrangement order was made?
d. please provide statutory provisions used in c.(i) or (ii) above
e. was permission to continue to committal proceedings required from a single justice of the Family Division?
f. if the anser to 6d was 'no', why was no such permission required?
g. was section 63(3) of the Magistrates Court Act 1980 involved in the process?
h. please provide any other procedural information relevant to the process not covered in 6a-g
7. Did Part 37 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 play a role in the process? If not, why not?
8. Is it possible for Magistrates to enforce their child arrangement orders without reference to other courts, such as requiring permission?
9. Can Magistrates obtain permission from a single judge of the Family Division to continue to committal procedings under Part 37 FPR, then process the trial at Magistrates' level?
10. Please provide the full Justices Reasons (anonymised for the sake of the child if need be) - the justices reasons are not the short version provided on the judicial website
Many Thanks
Yours faithfully,
Stuart Graham
Dear Mr Graham
Please find attached the acknowledgement of receipt of your freedom of
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Yours sincerely
Knowledge and Information Liaison Officer (KILO)
Midlands Regional Support Unit
email: [1][email address]
HMCTS Midlands Region -Working together to support the delivery of a First
Class Justice System
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Dear Mr Graham
Please find attached the response to your Freedom of Information Act
request.
Yours sincerely
Knowledge and Information Liaison Officer (KILO)
Midlands Regional Support Unit
email: [1][email address]
HMCTS Midlands Region -Working together to support the delivery of a First
Class Justice System
This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy
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Dear Ministry of Justice,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Justice's handling of my FOI request 'Powers of magistrates to enforce child arrangement orders with contempt legislation'.
My FOI request has been refused on Data Protection grounds. The claim is that the person involved in the legal case cannot have their court records revealed.
The refusal on these grounds seems an abstract way of perceiving the data requested. I am not seeking the private data of any person but the process used by the court when convicting her. The process used by a court when removing someone's liberty should, of course, be publicly available. I am happy for the person involved in the case to have their name removed from any response: it is entirely unnecessary.
I think any reasonable person would agree that denying a request of court procedures in regards to a case where a person's liberty was removed seems sinister and not becoming of an open society.
Please review the refusal of my request and provide any data relating to the court process used as requated.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
Yours faithfully,
Stuart Graham
Dear Mr Graham,
Please find attached an acknowledgement to your Internal Review request.
Kind regards
Knowledge Information Liaison Officer
North West Regional Support Unit | HMCTS | Manchester Civil Justice Centre
| 1 Bridge St West | Manchester M60 9DJ | DX724780 Manchester 44
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I am not authorised to bind the Ministry of Justice
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in any way via electronic means.
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monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be
read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not
broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
Dear Mr Graham,
Please find attached a response to your request for an Internal Review.
Knowledge Information Liaison Officer
North West Regional Support Unit | HMCTS | Manchester Civil Justice Centre
| 1 Bridge St West | Manchester M60 9DJ | DX724780 Manchester 44
I am not authorised to bind the Ministry of Justice
contractually, nor to make representations or other
statements which may bind the Ministry of Justice
in any way via electronic means.
This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy
all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.
Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message
could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in
mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message
by e-mail.
This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be
read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not
broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
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