Mother avoids jail after breaking injunctions relating to sick daughter’s care

By Brian Farmer and Tom Wilkinson, Reporters19th January 2023News EnglandChildrens Services, Courts / Justice, Mental Capacity, News England, North East, Vulnerable Children

A woman who published “bizarre” and untrue complaints about virtually all of the professionals involved in caring for her sick daughter has been warned she will be jailed if she continues.

Lioubov Macpherson, 60, appeared for sentence for five counts of contempt of court at a hearing of the Court of Protection, sitting in Newcastle, earlier this week.

Mr Justice Poole sentenced her to 28 days in jail, but suspended it for a year on the condition that she does not commit further contempts of court.

The judge, who is based in London, has overseen litigation centred on the woman’s daughter at hearings in the Court of Protection, where judges consider issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to take decisions for themselves.

He ruled that the mother’s claims, posted on the internet, invaded her vulnerable daughter’s privacy and that Macpherson sought to manipulate her.

When Macpherson appeared for a hearing of the court in December, the press could not identify her, but following representations by the PA news agency that defendants facing jail should not be kept secret, Mr Justice Poole agreed she could be named – although her daughter must remain anonymous.

Sunderland City Council had asked the court to commit Macpherson to prison for repeatedly breaching injunctive orders made in the summer, aimed at stopping her from publishing unfounded claims that her daughter has been mistreated by care staff and other health professionals.

In his judgment, published on Thursday, Mr Justice Poole said: “She has shown no respect for the court orders she has breached.

“She appears to take pride in having committed those breaches.

“She stands in defiance of the court and is bent on waging a campaign to bring attention to her views about her daughter’s treatment and care.

“Her views have no foundation in fact. They are bizarre.

“The defendant has maintained them in the face of clear evidence that they are wrong.

“I have no evidence that the defendant’s thinking is affected by illness.

“Her views may well be sincerely held but that does not justify her acting on them in the way she has, in deliberate breach of court orders designed to prevent harm to her daughter and unjustified interference with her daughter’s human rights.”

But he decided not to jail her immediately, having considered the impact it would have on her daughter, and others, as well as the fact Macpherson admitted the charges at the earliest opportunity.