Latest news with #AndrewMcFarlane
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Highland GP could face probe over abusive rape survivor posts
A GP from the Highlands has been the subject of reports to the General Medical Council (GMC) about abusive online comments concerning his rapist son's victim, the BBC understands. Dr Andrew McFarlane's son Daniel was convicted of raping Ellie Wilson in 2022 and jailed. She has since become a campaigner for survivors of male sexual violence. Dr McFarlane has been posting comments on social media to allege that his son is the victim of a miscarriage of justice and has made dozens of deeply disparaging comments about Wilson. BBC Scotland News has contacted Dr McFarlane for comment. Ms Wilson secretly captured Daniel McFarlane admitting to his crimes by setting her phone to record in her was found guilty of two rape charges and sentenced to five years in prison in July attacks took place between December 2017 and February 2018 when McFarlane was a medical student at the University of the conviction Ms Wilson, who waived her anonymity, has campaigned on behalf of January 2023 Ms Wilson, who was a politics student and champion athlete at the university at the time, released audio on X of a conversation with McFarlane covertly captured the year after the the recording she asks him: "Do you not get how awful it makes me feel when you say 'I haven't raped you' when you have?"McFarlane replies: "Ellie, we have already established that I have. The people that I need to believe me, believe me. I will tell them the truth one day, but not today."When asked how he feels about what he has done, he says: "I feel good knowing I am not in prison."Ms Wilson told BBC Scotland she had released the clip because many people wondered what evidence she had to secure a rape the trial a lawyer was found to have abused his position after Ms Wilson said she was subjected to personal attacks in Faculty of Advocates complaints committee said Lorenzo Alonzi repeatedly crossed the line of what was acceptable and found that his behaviour amounted to unsatisfactory professional conduct on six of the 11 issues you are affected by any of the issues in this story, help and advice is available through BBC Action Line.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Parents 'spy' on their spouse by bugging kids' phones amid bitter custody battles
Parents fighting over access to children in the family courts are 'spying' on each other by placing recording and tracking devices on their kids. In one extreme case a woman made night-long recordings for more than two years in an effort to prevent her husband from having access to their children. Lawyers say it is now increasingly common for estranged parents to take secret recordings or place tracking devices on each other or their children in an attempt to gain the upper hand during an acrimonious divorce. It happens so frequently the Family Justice Council has been forced to publish guidance on the use of covert recordings. The advisory body said this has been as a result of technological advances that 'empower anyone with a mobile phone or a tablet to make recordings that would be the envy of yesterday's spies'. The guidance says that children must not be forced into covertly recording one of their parents during family disputes to use as evidence in court cases where such recordings may not be admissible. It adds that, while it may not necessarily be unlawful, 'the issue of legality should not be the sole consideration' and the court must consider how the recordings will affect the welfare of a child. In the foreword to the guidance, the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, said: 'Whilst some covert recordings have been found to have evidential value, the secret nature of them can intrude on the privacy of parents, children and professionals, causing harm and often leading to concerns about the accuracy of the recording.' Sarah Manning, a partner at Hall Brown Family Law, said: 'Those parents who feel the need to make covert recordings or spy on their children and exes often don't realise that it can ultimately be counterproductive, showing the kind of behaviour which undermines rather than strengthening their cases.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Legal win for son tricked into moving to Africa by parents
A teenager who was tricked into going to boarding school in Africa has won a significant legal victory against his own parents. The 14-year-old boy, who cannot be identified, was taken from London to Ghana in March 2024 after being told a relative was ill. In fact, his parents wanted to get him out of London as they feared he was being drawn into criminal activity. Unhappy and homesick in Ghana, the boy found lawyers and brought a case against his parents to the High Court in London, which ruled against him in February. On Thursday, he won his appeal, so the case will be reheard. The most senior judge in the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, said there had been confusion in the previous decision. "We have become more and more concerned as to the exercise the judge undertook," he added. "For those reasons - we are agreed remittal should be allowed." He urged the family to find a solution through constructive dialogue. At the hearing, the boy's barrister, Deirdre Fottrell KC, said he is "desperate" to return to the UK. "He is culturally displaced and alienated," she said. "He considers himself abandoned by his family. He feels he is a British boy, a London boy." The boy remains in Ghana and has been attending a day school there. His solicitor, James Netto, described the appeal ruling as a "hugely significant" decision that would "resonate across international family law." He said: "We are very pleased indeed that the Court of Appeal has allowed our client's appeal, and has recognised the critical importance of listening to and assessing the voices of young people at the heart of legal proceedings that profoundly affect their lives." The parents' barrister, Rebecca Foulkes, said that staying in Ghana was the "least harmful" option for the boy. "The parents found themselves in a wholly invidious decision when they made the decision they made," she said. "Ghana provided a safe haven, separate from those who exposed him to risk. "The least harmful option is for him to remain in Ghana." The case centres on the question of parental responsibility, and whether the parents acted unlawfully by sending their son to boarding school without his consent. The boy previously told the court that he felt like he was "living in hell". He said he was "mocked" at the school in Ghana and "could also barely understand what was going on". During the previous judgement, High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden said the parents' wish for their son to move to Ghana was "driven by their deep, obvious and unconditional love". He found that the boy, who had lived in the UK since birth, was at risk of suffering greater harm by returning to London. He said that the boy's parents believe "and in my judgement with reason" that their son has "at very least peripheral involvement with gang culture and has exhibited an unhealthy interest in knives". Sir Andrew said the case will now be reheard by a different judge, with the next hearing planned to take place in the next few weeks. A full decision will be given in writing at a later date.
New Statesman
21-05-2025
- General
- New Statesman
Britain is failing children in care
Illustration by Gary Waters / Ikon Images There is no denying that, for so many looked-after children, growing up in care can be brutal and traumatic. I should know. I was looked after for most of my childhood, shunted between a range of foster homes in south-east London, as well as doing a stint in a residential care home with pre-teen boys of a similar age. In my case, it was necessary. But what concerns me is children being placed into care when it's avoidable – when there's a better alternative. The number of looked-after children in England is high – more than 80,000. And although statistics from the Department for Education show that only a small proportion of children in care are there due to being in 'low income' homes, that doesn't disprove that poverty is a significant factor for children entering the system. The UK's most senior family court judge, Andrew McFarlane, cites poverty as a key reason. It's also the case that poverty is often the trigger behind some of the other reasons children are placed into care – issues such as neglect and abuse. It demands concern that poverty can play such a vicious role in upending the life of a vulnerable child. Shouldn't the levers of the state be robust enough to prevent a child from being ripped apart from loved family members? Just as concerning are the distances some of them are being sent to live, away from their homes and that which they hold dear. According to research from Become, a charity for care leavers, one in five children in care in England is placed more than 20 miles from their family, friends, school and wider community. When the care system works, it can save the life of a child and steer them on to a positive path. I had the fortune of being supported by some incredible foster carers, care-home workers and social workers, all of whom played a critical role in my development and self-esteem. The fact remains, however, that many children in care are being let down. At its worst, time spent in care can compound trauma, deepen a child's sense of abandonment and diminish their life chances. Placing a child into the care system should only ever be a last resort. A greater emphasis should be placed on preventative measures, keeping families together wherever it's safe and possible to do so. A few years ago, I presented a BBC3 documentary, Split Up in Care, about the frequency of siblings being separated in the care system; it was rooted in my experience of sibling estrangement. I explored how some local authorities were pioneering preventative strategies. During the pandemic, Derby City Council introduced a rapid-response team to support vulnerable families and prevent more children from entering the system. In 15 months, they helped 60 families to stay together and prevented 50 sibling groups from being split up. While such measures form part of the solution, we must also recognise the challenge that leaving care presents for thousands of young people. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Despite a string of school suspensions and one exclusion, I studied history at the University of Cambridge. It was something my local authority celebrated: a care-experienced student had been accepted into Oxbridge. To them, it was a case of social care having 'worked well'. Yet, despite me being on the receiving end of platitudes and adulation, the reality of leaving care was tumultuous. My foster family let me go when I was 18. As well as studying for my A-levels, I had to prepare for independent living and moving into a council flat. Alongside sorting out student bursaries and loans, I also had to bid for council properties and budget for home furnishings. I should have been able to focus solely on my education, but that 'luxury' was never afforded to me. Perhaps most challenging was that I wouldn't receive funding for both student accommodation and a London council flat. I could either stay in London and get a council flat, or go to Cambridge and lose my bidding priority for the flat. This was problematic because my Cambridge college didn't offer year-round accommodation. Only after I contacted my local MP did I receive the support to both attend my university of choice and have a home. Why should any teenager have to be so resilient? So overwhelming were the pressures of leaving care that I nearly declined my Cambridge offer. How many young people, on the cusp of leaving care, are giving up on their ambitions and potential because of the immediacy of survival? University and other forms of higher education are not being pursued by many leaving care. I'd suggest this is not due to a lack of interest or ability, but the suffocating demands care leavers face when it comes to independence. The chance to dream is a privilege that many leaving care aren't given. This stunted potential affects society deeply, including care-experienced people forming large proportions of the homeless, young offending and adult offending populations. In 2022, the Welsh government piloted a basic income scheme for those leaving care. While its success is yet to be determined, one must appreciate the effort made to ease the pressure on those confronting the brutality of adulthood and independence. So many in care have known poverty – we must offer them a route out of it. The case for better support for those leaving care is beyond clear. Hopefully, our authorities are prudent enough to ensure that the children's care system ends up doing what it says on the tin: caring. Ashley John-Baptiste is the author of 'Looked After: A Childhood in Care' (Hodder) [See also: The brain behind Labour's EU deal] Related
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Validation Cloud Debuts Mavrik-1 AI Engine on Hedera to Democratize DeFi Data Analysis and Web3
Crypto infrastructure company Validation Cloud announced Tuesday the debut of Hedera-based AI engine Mavrik-1 that lets users and developers get DeFi market insights by asking queries in plain English. Despite DeFi's promise in revolutionizing finance, its complexity has long acted as barrier against widespread adoption. For DeFi users, the learning curve is steep, requiring knowledge of complex terminologies such as liquidity mining, impermanent loss and staking. Many Defi platforms require users to interact with command-line interfaces and complex web applications. With Mavrik-1, users can ask questions like "Which trading pairs have the largest spreads and which stablecoin has the highest on-chaintransaction volume?." Imagine chatting with your personal AI advisor. The ability to seek information via natural language queries represents democratization of data analysis and marks a shift in how investors interact with the blockchain protocols. "This is a pivotal moment for the Hedera ecosystem,' Viv Diwakar, Chief Information Officer at Hedera Foundation, said in a press release shared with CoinDesk. 'Validation Cloud's Data x AI platform brings an entirely new way to engage with blockchain data. It's a novel experience that unlocks usability and insight for builders, enterprises, and users in our ecosystem.' Validation Cloud is the AI platform powering Web3 finance, delivering products across Data x AI, Staking, and Node API. Mavrik-1 is deeply integrated with the Hedera-based DeFi applications, such as hUSDC, Karate Combat, and leading DeFi applications, the press release said. It is specially trained for blockchain environments, ensuring contextually relevant responses to queries. "We built Mavrik because you shouldn't need a PhD in Web3 to access and understand what's happening on-chain," said Andrew McFarlane, CTO of Validation Cloud. "By surfacing real-time intelligence in natural language, we're making Web3 accessible to everyone." The launch on Hedera is the first step, which will be followed by integrations with other blockchains and a full public rollout, dubbed Mavrik 2, later this year. Hedera debuted in 2021 and is a leaderless proof-of-stake network with aBFT hashgraph consensus. Hedera Foundation fuels the development of the Hedera ecosystem through grants and expert support for decentralized applications across DeFi, NFTs, and more.
