Case No. EWFC-57

[2021] EWCA Civ 451, at §55, Macur LJ advised the use by Family Court of this ‘Crown Court Compendium’ guidance:“1.A defendant’s lie, whether made before the trial or in the course of evidence or both, may be probative of guilt. A lie is only capable of supporting other evidence against D if the jury are sure that: (1) it is shown, by other evidence in the case, to be a deliberate untruth; i.e. it did not arise from confusion or mistake; (2) it relates to a significant issue; (3) it was not told for a reason advanced by or on behalf of D, or for some other reason arising from the evidence, which does not point to D’s guilt.2.The direction should be tailored to the circumstances of the case, but the jury must be directed that only if they are sure these criteria are satisfied can D’s lie be used as some support for the prosecution case, but the lie itself cannot prove guilt.16.The judge in care proceedings must never forget that today’s medical certainty may be discarded by the next generation of experts or the scientific research would throw a light into corners that are at present dark. Particularly, recent case law has emphasised the importance of taking into account the possibility of an unknown cause. The possibility was articulated by Moses J in R v Henderson-Butler and Oyediran [2010] EWCA Crim 126 when he said,"Where the prosecution is able, by advancing an array of experts, to identify a non-accidental injury and the defence can identify no alternative cause, it is tempting to conclude that the prosecution has proved its case. Such a temptation must be resisted. In this, as in so many fields of medicine, the evidence may be insufficient to exclude, beyond reasonable doubt, an unknown cause. As Cannings teaches, even where, on examination of all the evidence, every possible known cause has been excluded, the cause may still remain unknown."17.In