Case No. MA19P02184-MA21P01785

INTRODUCTION1.In this matter I am concerned with an application by the Defendant, Mr Paul Ireland, dated 10 June 2022 to strike out an application made by the Claimant, Mr Robert McCarren, to commit Mr Ireland for contempt of court for, it is alleged, disclosing certain documents arising from family proceedings without the permission of the court.2.The application to commit Mr Ireland for contempt of court made by Mr McCarren can fairly be described as one amongst a blizzard of applications made by Mr McCarren arising out of concluded litigation under Part II of the Children Act 1989 concerning his son, S. Those proceedings were finalised on the basis of a child arrangements order made by DJ(MC) Carr on 1 July 2021. Since that date, Mr McCarren has engaged in litigation in two Divisions of the High Court and has launched complaints to multiple regulatory agencies with a view to demonstrating that the decision in the family proceedings was erroneous. The bundle for the application currently before the court contains a table that purports to summarise the individual sets of legal proceedings in which Mr McCarren has been, or is currently, engaged. Mr McCarren does not accept the accuracy of that table but on his own evidence the scope of his former and current litigation is expansive. At the heart of each of the sets of proceedings commenced by Mr McCarren, and each of the complaints he has made to regulatory agencies, is his contention that he has suffered a grave injustice at the hands of the Family Court. 3.With respect to Mr McCarren’s application to commit Mr Ireland, and the application by Mr Ireland to strike out that application, Mr Ireland is represented by Mr Peter Kidd of counsel. Mr McCarren is represented by Mr Joseph Chiffers of counsel. I have been greatly assisted by the written and oral submissions of both counsel. At the conclusion of the hearing, I reserved judgment in this matter. BACKGROUND4.Within the foregoing context, the procedural background to the matter might best be described as labyrinthine, ranging as it does over protracted private law proceedings and the multiple incidences of ancillary litigation launched by Mr McCarren during, and in the context of the outcome of, those family proceedings. It is, in places, difficult to follow the course of the proceedings in circumstances where Mr McCarren is in the habit of issuing serial interlocutory applications in addition to commencing new substantive proceedings (a Case Summary from the family proceedings dated 16 June 2021 contained in the bundle lists no less than twenty-eight separate interlocutory applications within the private law proceedings under the Children Act 1989). The effect of this is to confuse and obfuscate the procedural position. The following account, however, represents the history of the family proceedings relevant to the current application by Mr Ireland to strike out Mr McCarren’s application to commit him for contempt.5.As I have noted, Mr McCarren has a son, S, with his ex-wife. Mr McCarren first made an application for a child arrangements order in respect of S in 2017. A final order was made in those proceedings by consent, subject to the determination by the court of certain narrow issues between the parties. In 2018 Mr McCarren made a further application for a child arrangements order in respect of S and a further child arrangements order was made, again largely by consent. Mr Ireland acted as solicitor for Mrs McCarren in that second set of family proceedings. In 2019 Mr McCarren launched a third application under the Children Act 1989, seeking overnight contact with S. Mrs McCarren cross-applied to vary the existing child arrangements order and for an order under s.91(14) of the Children Act 1989 requiring Mr McCarren to obtain the permission of the court before making any further applications in respect of S. Once again, Mr Ireland acted as solicitor for Mrs McCarren in those proceedings.6.S was joined as a party to the proceedings under the Children Act 1989 on 6 August 2020 and a Children’s Guardian was appointed. By an order dated 28 August 2020, and upon the application of the Children’s Guardian, DJ(MC) Carr gave permission for the joint instruction of Dr Kate Hellin to prepare a psychological assessment of the parents. That order was made by consent, with both parents agreeing to the instruction of Dr Hellin. Dr Hellin prepared and filed her expert report with the court on 18 December 2020. In short, Dr Hellin concluded that Mr McCarren demonstrated a narcistic personality, with limited insight or empathy and an obsessive, ruminative and rigid cognitive style with elements of paranoia.7.Following the receipt of Dr Hellin’s expert report Mr McCarren launched multiple interlocutory applications, leading to a series of interim hearings in the family proceedings between August 2020 and March 2021. Those applications included an application by Mr McCarren on 20 December 2020, two days after the filing of Dr Hellin’s report, to exclude the evidence of Dr Hellin and to remove the Children’s Guardian from the proceedings, both of which applications were refused by the court on 28 January 2021.8.On 23 March 2021 Mr McCarren wrote to the court and informed the court of “his immediate withdrawal from the ongoing proceedings”. DJ(MC) Carr treated that letter as an application for permission to withdraw under FPR 2010 r.29.4 and invited written representations from the parties. An order dated 4 May 2021 further records that, notwithstanding his letter of 23 March 2021 indicating his withdrawal form the proceedings, Mr McCarren had also issued a C2 application dated 22 April 2021 for permission to instruct an expert psychologist and an independent social worker and for directions for further disclosure and the filing of further evidence. In the circumstances, DJ(MC) Carr refused permission to Mr McCarren to withdraw proceedings. On 14 May 2021 each of the applications made by Mr McCarren on 22 April 2022 was dismissed.9.At a final hearing on 1 July 2021, and having regard to the conclusions of Dr Hellin, DJ(MC) Carr made a child arrangements order providing for S to live with Mrs McCarren and for him to have indirect contact with Mr McCarren. Whilst Mr McCarren attended the commencement of that hearing, the order of DJ(MC) Carr records that Mr McCarren left the hearing during the course of the court giving its reasons for refusing an application by the Mr McCarren to adjourn the final hearing and refusing again each of the applications that had first been made by Mr McCarren on 22 April 2021 and dismissed by the court on 14 May 2021. The order records that Mr McCarren did not return to the final hearing and did not give evidence at that hearing. In addition to making a final child arrangements order, DJ(MC) Carr made a non-molestation order against Mr McCarren in favour of Mrs McCarren and a costs order in favour of Mrs McCarren in the sum of £10,000.10.On 1 July 2021, DJ(MC) Carr also made an order under s.91(14) of the Children Act 1989 requiring Mr McCarren to seek the permission of the court before issuing any further applications under the Children Act 1989 until 30 June 2024. DJ (MC) Carr further directed that any further applications by Mr McCarren under the Children Act 1989 should be considered on the papers before consideration is given to serving Mrs McCarren.11.The reasons provided by DJ(MC) Carr for making the orders he did on 1 July 2021 make clear that he rejected a series of criticisms made by Mr McCarren of Dr Hellin and the expert report she provided to the court. 12.Mr McCarren appealed the final orders made by DJ(MC) Carr on 1 July 2021 on the basis that Dr Hellin’s report was biased (he alleging that Dr Hellin and Mrs McCarren had both worked for the same NHS Trust for an overlapping period) and that the report of Dr Hellin was of insufficient quality. On 27 January 2022 Mr McCarren’s application for permission to appeal was dismissed by Deputy Circuit Judge Jordan as being totally without merit. In the circumstances, the order of DJ(MC) Carr of 1 July 2021 remains operative, including the order made pursuant to s.91(14) of the Children Act 1989. Within this context, on 28 June 2022 this court has recently refused an application by Mr McCarren for permission to commence further proceedings under the Children Act 1989 in respect of S.13.Mr McCarren was clearly dissatisfied with the course of the proceedings under the Children Act 1989 and remains so. As I have noted, both prior to and following the judgment of DJ(MC) Carr, Mr McCarren launched multiple sets of litigation aimed at those he considers to be responsible for what he considered, and considers, to be a miscarriage of justice in the family proceedings. Primarily, Mrs McCarren, Mr Ireland and Dr Hellin. At times, the litigation pursued by Mr McCarren has also touched others involved in the proceedings. The litigation ancillary to the family proceedings pursued by Mr McCarren has ranged across actions in defamation against the mother, the maternal family and the mother’s General Practitioner, applications for non-molestation orders against the mother, civil actions in the Kings’ Bench Division for “fraud and deception” against the mother, Mr Ireland and Dr Hellin (albeit it is not entirely clear whether those actions were ever in fact issued), an application for committal for contempt against Dr Hellin, and proceedings under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 against Mr Ireland. Most recently, Mr McCarren has issued a C2 application form naming Mr Ireland as the respondent and which seeks to “deem the evidence of an unregulated court expert as inadmissible” in the now concluded family proceedings. Mr McCarren has also made complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Information Commissioner, the Charities Commission, the British Psychological Society and to Members of Parliament.14.Mr McCarren’s application for relief against Mr Ireland under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 was heard by District Judge Gray on 28 May 2021 and led to a costs order being made against Mr McCarren in Mr Ireland’s favour in the sum of £6,540.00. I will come back to the role that the costs order made during the claim under the Protection of Harassment Act 1997 has played in the current application before the court shortly It would appear from a recent statement dated 5 May 2022, that Mr McCarren intends now to make a further application claim for harassment in the Kings’ Bench Division against Mr Ireland, he stating that:“I also raise the point that the contemnor has a 30 incident harassment claim against him waiting to be issued by the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court for a 4 year long campaign of harassment towards me, the pinnacle of this the sharing of the family court orders he finds himself before this court for.”15.On 28 October 2021, Mr McCarren applied to commit Dr Hellin for contempt of court, before replacing that application with a revised application against Dr Hellin on 15 February 2022 following the loss of his appeal on 27 January 2022. That latter application was dismissed by Deputy Circuit Judge Jordan on 24 February 2022 as totally without merit. Mr McCarren appealed that decision to the High Court, which appeal was dismissed by Mrs Justice Arbuthnot on 7 April 2022, again as being totally without merit.16.As I have noted, Mr McCarren’s most recent application ancillary to the concluded family proceedings purports to be an application on form C2 to “deem the evidence of an unregulated court expert as inadmissible”. The allegedly “unregulated expert” referred to in that application is Dr Hellin. The application purports to be made under FPR 2010 r. 18(1)(c) and issued one day after this court refused Mr McCarren permission to issue a further application under the Children Act 1989 on 28 June 2022. The application is issued under one of the case numbers associated with the family proceedings. It names Mr Ireland as the respondent to the application, even thought Mr Ireland is not, and never has been, a party to those proceedings (as expressly conceded by Mr McCarren in his application to commit Mr Ireland for contempt).17.Whilst the papers accompanying Mr McCarren’s latest application to the court are not strictly relevant to his application to commit Mr Ireland, I understand that Mr McCarren insisted that they be placed in the bundle. In this context, and in circumstances where Mr Ireland was not a party to the family proceedings, it is of note that the statement in support of C2 the application dated 29 June 2022, permission for the disclosure of which to Mr Ireland has not been sought by Mr McCarren:i)Quotes extracts from the report of the CAFCASS officer in the family proceedings;ii)Includes a screenshot of the responses provided by Dr Hellin within the family proceedings to further questions put to her in writing;iii)Includes screenshots of extracts from the expert report and addendum expert report provided by Dr Hellin and filed and served in the family proceedings;iv)Includes a screenshot of a statement provided by PC Holt in the family proceedings with respect to the issue of allegations against Mrs McCarren of domestic abuse;v)Includes screenshots of extracts of Mr McCarren’s Position Statement for the hearing on 9 March 2020 in the family proceedings and of the Skeleton Argument filed on behalf of Mrs McCarren.vi)Includes screenshots of an extracts of a court order in the family proceedings concerning S.18.In the days before the hearing of Mr Ireland’s application to strike out the contempt proceedings, Mr McCarren continued to file statements of evidence without the permission of the court. In a statement dated 7 July 2022, Mr McCarren included a screenshot of an order in the family proceedings dated 18 March 2022. A further statement dated 17 July 2022, and again filed without the permission of the court, contains a further screenshot of Dr Hellin’s expert report filed in the family proceedings. The statement asserts that the information in it, including the information pertaining to the family proceedings, has been sent by Mr McCarren to, inter alia, the Charity Commission, the National Audit Office and the Serious Fraud Office. No permission was sought by Mr McCarren for this disclosure of information from the family proceedings.19.Returning to the contempt proceedings currently before the court, Mr McCarren did not pay the costs of £6,540.00 ordered by District Judge Gray on 28 May 2021 upon his application under the Protection of Harassment Act 1997 being dismissed. Within this context, Mr Ireland issued a statutory demand for that sum. In March 2022, Mr McCarren applied to set aside the statutory demand. In response, Mr Ireland instructed solicitors to resist that application. On 11 March 2022, the solicitor instructed by Mr Ireland, Mr Javaid, prepared a statement in response to the application by Mr McCarren to set aside a statutory demand. It is that statement that forms the foundation of Mr McCarren’s application to commit Mr Ireland for contempt of court. 20.The application by Mr McCarren to commit Mr Ireland for contempt of court was made on 15 March 2022. The alleged grounds for committing Mr Ireland for contempt are not itemised in the application form. Rather the application form contains the following narrative:“I make this application against Paul Ireland who was not a party to the family proceedings merely a legal representative who without permission of the court has disclosed confidential documents from family court proceedings that he was prevented from doing so by way of no court order permitting him to do so and the prevention of which is determined by 12.73 of the family procedure rules.I find it important to mention practice direction 12g also does not permit the contemnor from disclosing confidential papers from family proceedings. This will be explained and evidence of the contempt provided in a separate witness statement but in summary Paul Ireland has disclosed the documents to a Solicitor instructed by him and then this solicitor has disclosed them on his behalf to a further tribunal. The other solicitor has been given amnesty upon which to admit he should not have disclosed the documents, if he does not accept his misdemeanour then I invite the court under its own powers also to commit the Solicitor for contempt proceedings.”21.There is no affidavit or affirmation in support of the application to commit Mr Ireland, as required by FPR r.37(1). Mr McCarren has provided instead a signed statement in support of the contempt application dated 15 March 2022. Once again, that statement does not particularise the grounds of contempt relied on by Mr McCarren, but rather makes a series of narrative statements in respect of the alleged conduct he complains of, the following of which are salient:“It is my allegation that the above named person is in contempt of court because he has disclosed confidential documents that he was not permitted to under the family procedure rules 12.73 and PD12G”And:“I ask the court to focus on what is clearly a deliberate contempt of court by the contemnor who is more than aware of the family procedure rules because it is his professional requirement to be so and as such can have no arguable defence for what he has done.”And:“I enclose exhibits that include the statement in which Paul Ireland’s instructed solicitor Hiatham Javaid has disclosed the confidential documents.”And:“This is a simple matter of the solicitor who should know the rules on which he is prevented from sharing confidential family court documents but has deliberately in a predatory manner used the documents for inappropriate purposes.”22.The ‘confidential documents’ referred to in Mr McCarren’s application form, and in his statement of 15 March 2022, are said to be those exhibited to the witness statement made by Mr Ireland’s solicitor, Mr Javaid, dated 11 March 2022 to resist an application by Mr McCarren to set aside the statutory demand made respect of costs owing to Mr Ireland from Mr McCarren to which I have already referred. Whilst Mr McCarren’s application and statement do not particularise the documents he contends are the subject of the contempt application, amongst other documents exhibited to the statement of 11 March 2022, Mr Javaid exhibited the following:i)The non-molestation order made by DJ(MC) in favour of the respondent mother on 1 July 2021.ii)The final child arrangements order made by DJ(MC) Carr under Part II of the Children Act 1989 on 1 July 2021.iii)The order of Deputy Circuit Judge Jordan dated 27 January 2022 dismissing Mr McCarren’s appeal against the orders of DJ(MC) Carr dated 1 July 2022.iv)An undated Notice of Proceedings in respect of an application in the Children Act 1989 proceedings for a hearing on 15 June 2022.23.With respect to the orders exhibited by Mr Javaid to the statement dated 11 March 2022, and in the context of that statement being aimed at resisting Mr McCarren’s application to set aside the statutory demand made respect of costs owing to Mr Ireland from Mr McCarren, the common denominator is that each contains a costs order made against Mr McCarren in favour of Mrs McCarren, totalling £28,530.00.24.On behalf of Mr McCarren, Mr Chiffers points out that the child arrangements order made on 1 July 2021 contains the following rubric concerning the confidentiality of the names of the parties and children involved in the proceedings. During the course of the hearing, and whilst not pleaded in the Mr McCarren’s application, Mr Chiffer’s sought to suggest that this constituted a further ground of contempt in this case if breached in circumstances where the rubric states:“The names of the parties and the children involved in these proceedings must be kept confidential and must not be made known to anybody else without the court’s permission.”25.Without the permission of the court, Mr McCarren purported to file and serve a further statement dated 6 June 2022 detailing what he asserts is the impact on him of Mr Ireland’s alleged wrongful disclosure of information from the family proceedings,. In that statement Mr McCarren contends the alleged actions of Mr Ireland have had an emotional impact on himself and S. Within this context, Mr McCarren states that it is his view that “Paul Ireland must be sent to prison for what he has done” and that “surely it is time for Paul Ireland to be struck off and nobody else suffer at the hands of his utter abhorrence and misconduct.”26.The statement of 6 June 2022 ranges far more widely than the issues the contempt application. In particular, the statement makes clear that Mr McCarren views the application to commit Mr Ireland for contempt as part of his wider campaign to undo the decision of the family court in respect of S. 27.Within this context, the statement of 6 June 2022 re-opens a number of matters that Mr McCarren considers led to an injustice being done in the family proceedings. These include the conduct of the judges who dealt with the proceedings, the instruction, by consent, of Dr Hellin to provide an expert psychological assessment (the statements by Mr McCarren dated 7 July 2022 and 17 July 2022 in support of his most recent C2 application, to which I have referred above, also demonstrate an acute preoccupation with the role of Dr Hellin in the outcome of the family proceedings) and the alleged adverse role in the family proceedings played by Mr Ireland. In particular, Mr McCarren states as follows with respect to the outcome of the application for contempt as it relates to Mr Ireland (the reference to the C100 is to the application for permission to issue proceedings under the Children Act 1989 that this court refused on 28 June 2022):“I remain strong for my son whom I hope to regain contact with in my C100 which is also before you for determination. However, off the back of a 5 year period of coercive and controlling behaviour after a marriage that involved domestic abuse and assault at the hands of Paul Ireland’s client who pays him to act nothing less than a ‘hired gun’ for her something at some point must break. Therefore I look to you your Lordship to sufficiently deal with Paul Ireland so it can end, and I can sweep up the mess left by the ‘broken system’ in [the Manchester Family Court] with your help in my C100 in which I must regain contact with my son who will also be damaged by the ‘broken system’ if not reunited with me soon.”28.A third statement in support of the contempt application was provided by Mr McCarren on 6 July 2022, again without permission of the court. In that statement, Mr McCarren seeks to refute any suggestion that he is using the contempt proceedings as a collateral attack on the decision in the family proceedings (that allegation being levelled in the statement of Mr Ireland in support of the application to strike out) and states as follows with respect to the basis of his application:“For the avoidance of doubt the application is brought due to the disclosure of the documents to Primas Law exhibited to the aforesaid statement of Mr Javaid and authorisation of the Respondent of such a statement. The entire exhibit of Mr Javaid’s statement contains documents that should not have been disclosed, save for the first page which is an order of District Judge Gray in St Helens County Court.”29.The application made by Mr Ireland to strike out the contempt application is dated 10 June 2022 and is advanced on the following grounds:i)The contempt application is an abuse of process for the purposes of FPR 2010 PD37A 1(1)(b).ii)The contempt application is likely to obstruct the just disposal of the main set of proceedings for the purposes of FPR 2010 PD37A 2(1)(b).iii)There has been a failure to comply with a rule, Practice Direction or court order for the purposes of FPR 2010 PD37A 2(1)(c).THE LAW30.Pursuant to FPR 2010 r.37.3 a contempt application made in existing family proceedings falls to be made under Part 18 of the FPR in those proceedings, whether or not made against a party to those proceedings. FPR 2010 r.37(1) requires that, unless and to the extent that the court directs otherwise, every contempt application must be supported by written evidence given by affidavit or affirmation. FPR 2010 r.37(2)(a) further states the contempt application must include a statement of the nature of the alleged contempt. The terms of FPR r.37(2) make clear that this requirement will always apply.31.The application for contempt in these proceedings is made on the basis that Mr Ireland has breached the terms of FPR 2010 r 12.73. The terms of the rule are expressed in permissive terms as follows:“