Mother jailed after breaking injunctions relating to ‘bizarre’ complaints on daughter’s care

A mother who published “bizarre” and untrue complaints about professionals involved in her sick daughter’s care has been handed a prison sentence for breaching court injunctions.

Lioubov Macpherson was previously found in contempt of court for breaking orders aimed at stopping her from publishing unfounded claims that her daughter has been mistreated by care staff and other health professionals.

In January last year, a judge ruled that the then 60-year-old mother’s claims, posted on the internet, invaded her vulnerable daughter’s privacy and that Macpherson sought to manipulate the child.

Mr Justice Poole, who considered the case at a Court of Protection hearing in Newcastle, sentenced her to 28 days in jail but suspended it for a year on the condition that she did not commit further contempt of court.

Sunderland City Council later complained that the mother breached further court orders issued last summer that restricted her from recording the child, publicising details of legal proceedings and putting videos of her daughter online.

In a ruling made public on Friday, Mr Justice Poole again found Macpherson in contempt of court and said she should be jailed her three months, with the previous 28-day sentence to run consecutively.

The judge said Macpherson had alleged her daughter was being “mistreated” and made references to “the corrupt legal system”.

She had shared material identifying her daughter and care professionals, in breach of the orders made to protect her welfare and privacy amid her mother’s “deeply manipulative behaviour”.

Mr Justice Poole had previously ruled that Macpherson was “bent on waging a campaign to bring attention to her views about her daughter’s treatment and care” and that her views had “no foundation in fact” and were “bizarre”.

In his latest ruling, the judge said Macpherson “knew that what she was about to do before she posted the material online would be a contempt of court”.

“The court has no desire to pass a sentence of imprisonment on the defendant, not least because in some sense that is exactly what she is provoking the court to do,” the judge said.

But he said upholding the authority of the court through the sentencing was important to “discourage others from flagrantly breaching court orders”.

“The defendant has openly and intentionally defied the court in a brazen manner,” the judge said, adding: “I cannot allow the defendant to treat herself as beyond the law.”

The judge noted that Macpherson was in France after saying she was claiming “political asylum” there and that she could not start her prison sentence until she returned.

Mr Justice Poole previously ruled that Macpherson could be identified but reports of the case must preserve the anonymity of her daughter.

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