P v Griffith [2020] EWCOP 46

Application by the P acting through her litigation friend the Official Solicitor for an order committing a relative of the P, Ms Griffith, to prison for contempt arising out of her alleged interference with the due administration of justice. Ms Griffith was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

Ms Griffith, a relative of the P, had made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain orders providing for the disclosure of the P's medical records covering the period prior to September 2018, which records included those held by Barts Health NHS Trust. She therefore forged a purported court order and sent the forged purported order to Barts Health NHS Trust with the intention of obtaining the medical confidential records of P despite the court refusing to direct this. This action constituted a very serious interference with the due administration of justice. 

The court concluded that Ms Griffith was in contempt and ordered that  an immediate prison term of 12 months was appropriate. But for the fact that Ms Griffith had not to date experienced prison, and the current impact on the nature of custody of the COVID-19 pandemic, the court would have imposed on her an immediate sentence of imprisonment of 18 months for forging the court order with the intention of interfering with the due administration of justice.

​Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii