AB (Court of Protection: Police Disclosure) [2019] EWCOP 66

​Application by the Police to have access to a psychological report undertaken on the P to inform them about his capacity to access the internet and social media. Application refused.

The police have been undertaking an investigation into offences said to have been committed by the P in 2017 and 2018 relating to category C images of children. Central to the decision as to whether or not to continue criminal proceedings against the P was the content of one psychological report in particular which the Police wanted to have disclosed. Their case was that if, at the time the offences were alleged to have taken place, the P did not have capacity to access the internet or social media, the charges would likely be dropped. The Police therefore applied that the report be disclosed to them.

The court refused the application. The report contained nothing of relevance to the Police investigation other than for the Police to know that the P had the capacity to access the internet and social media at the time the assessment was undertaken and in the context of the educative work undertaken with him. It did not address the question of capacity at the time of the alleged offences.

Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii