“This incident has left both Miss Benton and her children feeling very upset and frightened to the extent that, prior to the bail conditions being imposed, they were too scared to return home and instead stayed with their grandmother. Miss Benton and her children are still very frightened in their property and are extremely concerned that they may encounter Mr Ashton whilst going about their daily lives. This fear has resulted in Miss Benton and her children on occasion staying with other family members.”
“On balance and not without some hesitation (given the absence of direct supporting testimony from the relevant professionals and their contemporaneous records), I accept the Defendant’s evidence concerning his condition since his arrest, his cooperation with the medical and other professionals, his insight and his expression of remorse.”
“In my judgment Mr Singleton was right, without formally conceding the matter, to identify the principal question as to whether any such order might properly be suspended. If there was no cause to believe or reason to suppose that the behaviour in question would not be repeated, then of course suspension would serve no useful purpose. [The sentence reads more easily if the double negative is eliminated]. If the evidence was such as to show that there was an unacceptable and real risk of this kind of event recurring, not necessarily in precisely the same way, there might be no proper basis upon which to suspend that order.”
“The Claimant’s position is that nonetheless, notwithstanding all of these matters, the incident was so serious that it would justify the making of an outright order. At first that submission has an attraction and I have sympathy with it, not least given the absence of the medical records, for example. It is to be recalled that the precipitating incident involved the brandishing of a Samurai sword in a residential area. The question however which arises is whether that approach could properly be regarded as a proportionate response given the evidence presented to the court by the parties. In my judgment it is not given my finding in respect of the Defendant’s evidence to which I have referred.”
“That which might well render it proportionate would, for example, be the additional risk factor of, say, good reason to suppose that the kind of relapse in the Defendant’s condition would soon occur, resulting in that kind of behaviour, or perhaps, clear evidence of there being a continuing animosity between the Defendant and Miss Benton, or, perhaps, clear evidence that there is a long-lasting continuing fear on the part of Miss Benton and/or the children which would render it unreasonable to expect the Defendant to return to that locality or that the evidence concerning abstinence, fourteen months stability and support is inaccurate.”
“On the evidence presently before me I am satisfied, just, that the proportionate and proper response to the risks posed by the Defendant and his conduct in the past is such that it would be appropriate to suspend the possession order which I otherwise make.”
“What in my judgment can be said is that the effect of Mousah is to stress the serious nature of a breach of a condition which involves the committing of a criminal offence. The more serious the offence, the more serious the breach. Convictions of several offences will obviously be even more serious. In such circumstances it seems to me that the court should only suspend the order if there is cogent evidence which demonstrates… a sound basis for the hope that the previous conduct will cease.”
“Fourthly, the making of a suspended order inevitably involves an assessment as to the future conduct of the tenant. That assessment is grounded on past behaviour, the circumstances in which the offer of compliance is put forward, and the reliance that can be placed on the word of the promisor. That is pre-eminently the province of the trial judge, who draws on a depth of experience of cases of this sort; an intimate knowledge of the facts of this particular case and all their nuances, not all of which translate readily into the written word; and the inestimable advantage of having seen Mr Vertigan over a two day trial. The judge plainly drew on all of that material and gives an account of it in her careful judgment. Her conclusion upon that material cannot be thought to fall outside the proper range of decisions; in fact, I think it was plainly right.”