E v London Borough of X

Mr Peter Horrocks (instructed by Atkins Hope Solicitors) for the Applicant Ms Lucy Craig (instructed by London Borough Legal Services Department) for the Respondent Hearing dates: 4th October 2005 ____________________

This judgment is being handed down in private on 6 December 2005. It consists of 15 pages and has been signed and dated by the judge. The judge hereby gives leave for it to be reported.

The judgment is being distributed on the strict understanding that in any report no person other than the advocates or the solicitors instructing them (and other persons identified by name in the judgment itself) may be identified by name or location and that in particular the anonymity of the children and the adult members of their family must be strictly preserved.

At the hearing before Singer J, however, E McL stated that she was not E's mother, but her older sister, and that E was not a child. In those circumstances, Singer J gave directions that E McL file and serve a full and frank affidavit setting out the circumstances concerning paternity, age and family relationships of E and that E file and serve a statement in response. He gave additional directions and listed the matter for further hearing on 26 January 2005. He also adjourned an application made by the local authority to be discharged from the proceedings to be heard on the same date.

It was further concluded that, based on that assessment, E's age was "between 20-22 years old".