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Sophia Roper KC and Benjamin Harrison successfully appeared before the Vice-president of the Court of Protection, Theis J, in Re RF (No.2) [2026] EWCOP 41 (T3)
Sophia Roper KC and Benjamin Harrison successfully appeared before the Vice-president of the Court of Protection, Theis J, in Re RF (No.2) [2026] EWCOP 41 (T3) on behalf of the Official Solicitor. This case concerned an application by a Scottish local authority seeking recognition and enforcement of a foreign protective measure under Schedule 3 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
This Schedule 3 application is the sequel to RF (No.1) [2025] EWCOP 1 (T3) in which Sophia and Ben persuaded Theis J to refuse to recognise and enforce a previous Scottish Guardianship Order concerning RF in England on the basis that, among other things, that order had been made in circumstances which breached RF’s rights under Article 5(4) ECHR.
Following the decision in RF (No.1), the Scottish local authority invited the Scottish sheriff to renew the Guardianship Order taking into account the deficiencies identified by the Official Solicitor in the previous Schedule 3 application for recognition and enforcement. This included inviting the Scottish sheriff to (1) reduce the length of the order from three years to one year in duration and (2) appoint an independent, legally qualified, Safeguarder to ensure that RF’s right to a regular review of his detention under Article 5(4) is effective.
With these modifications, the renewed application for recognition and enforcement was unopposed.
At para 76, the court also applied the new multi-factorial approach to determining when someone is deprived of their liberty following AGNI [2026] UKSC 16.
Sophia and Ben were instructed by Melissa Law of Edwards Duthie Shamash solicitors.
The link to the judgment in RF (No.1) can be found here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewcop/t3/2025/12?query=RF
The link to the judgment in RF (No.2) can be found here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewcop/t3/2026/41?query=RF
Three Members of Chambers appear in two IPT cases
In Kearney & BBC v PSNI & Ors, Aaron Rathmell represented Durham Constabulary and James Berry KC and Chloe Hill represented the Metropolitan Police Service. The case concerned covert powers used in respect of a prominent journalist in Northern Ireland and followed on from the case of McCaffrey & Birney v PSNI & Ors in which James, Chloe and Aaron also appeared.
In LMN & XYZ v Chief Constable of Avon & Somerset Constabulary, James Berry KC represented the Constabulary. The case concerned the use of surveillance in a rear garden during the investigation into a neighbour dispute and considered whether this amounted to intrusive surveillance.
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