Case No. EWFC-48

24.What follows is a brief summary of the written and oral submissions made by the mother and the father in this appeal.25.On behalf of the father, Mr Latham advanced three grounds of appeal, on which permission was granted by HHJ Murden. First, he contended that the judge failed to provide adequate reasons for his decision and pointed to the relatively brief written analysis in relation to each finding of fact, describing it as superficial in the context of what was an evidentially complex case. Mr Latham also criticised the judge’s response to the questions sent by way of clarification which he said was simply inadequate and failed to engage with the detail of the submissions made. Second, Mr Latham submitted that the judge had compartmentalised the mother’s oral evidence and had failed to balance it sufficiently or at all against the challenges to the mother’s credibility. Third, the judge failed to properly analyse the core issue of consent at the time of the sexual abuse by either failing to deal explicitly with that issue in respect of each occasion of alleged sexual abuse complained of by the mother or by failing to carefully analyse that issue overall.26.In response, Ms Lee drew the court’s attention to the judge’s reasoning which she characterised as sufficiently detailed for the parties to understand how and why the judge had reached his decision. It was unsurprising that the judgment did not contain an analysis of all the evidence and submissions which the judge read and heard given the voluminous evidence and submissions before the court. Judgments were not required to include a factual analysis of everything a judge had read or heard. Second, she submitted that the judge had taken a holistic view of the evidence and was uniquely placed to assess the evidence of both parents during the hearing. The assertion that he had compartmentalised the mother’s evidence could not be sustained. Finally, Ms Lee pointed to examples where the judge had clear regard to the issue of consent and had applied it in a manner which was appropriate to the business of the family court.