Case No. EWFC-47

2.The background to this case is a very sad one. In October 2020 S’s older brother, O, aged just five weeks, died in the night from unknown causes, otherwise known as a Sudden Unexplained Death in Infancy (SUDI). There is a possibility of overlaying, but this would not be anything other than a tragic accident.3.A post mortem examination revealed that O had metaphyseal fractures to the medial and lateral aspect of the left distal tibia. At first it was thought that these could have been caused either post mortem or during the delivery. There was an investigation which concluded that, subject to the results of the forensic post mortem, there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding O’s death.4.The full results of the post mortem took a very long time to be obtained (this is undoubtedly the result of a shortage of experts which has been the subject of comment by other judges including the President of the Family Division). No cause of death was found, but Professor Mangham, Consultant Osteoarticular Pathologist confirmed the presence of the metaphyseal fractures. He dated them, however, as having occurred between 2 and 5 days before O died which meant that they could not have occurred during the birth or after he had died. This meant that they occurred in the care of the parents (or one of them).5.Once the dating of the fractures was identified the parents were interviewed by the police. This was in March 2022, eighteen months after O had died. As a consequence these proceedings were commenced at S’s birth.