Council to end moves to penalise grandmother over ‘Court of Protection breach’

Council social services bosses are to stop trying to penalise a grandmother who they say has breached orders made in the Court of Protection.

Teresa Kirk, of Brighton, East Sussex, hit the headlines earlier this year after she was given a six-month jail term.

Lawyers representing Devon County Council had told a judge how social workers had responsibility for a man in his 80s who suffered from dementia.

They complained that Mrs Kirk, who is in her 70s, had taken the man to a care home in his native Portugal, and had breached another judge’s order by refusing to return him to England.

Mr Justice Newton had concluded, at a Court of Protection hearing in London in August, that Mrs Kirk was in contempt of court, and had handed down a six-month sentence.

But in November three Court of Appeal judges concluded that the sentence was unfair and ruled that Mrs Kirk should go free.

Now a senior judge says lawyers involved in the case feel that further attempts to coerce Mrs Kirk into returning the pensioner to England are likely to be an “exercise in futility” and a waste of money.

Sir James Munby, the President of the Court of Protection, said all parties involved agreed that Mrs Kirk would not comply with orders she disagreed with.

He has outlined his thoughts in a written ruling after analysing submissions from lawyers involved.

“It is futile to make any further attempt to subject Mrs Kirk to coercive orders designed to obtain (the pensioner’s) return to this country,” said Sir James.

“The Court of Protection will not be invited to make any such order.”

He said a judge in the Court of Protection, where issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions are considered, would continue to oversee the pensioner’s case.

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