FP Cumbria Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and Secretary of State for Justice v EG [2021] EWHC 2990 Fam

Represented the Secretary of State for Justice in an appeal by NHS trust and Secretary of State for Justice to Mrs Justice Lieven sitting as a judge in the High Court under the inherent jurisdiction and the Upper Tribunal in respect of EG, who had been conditionally discharged from a secure psychiatric hospital to a care home in the community where he continued to receive treatment, but was deprived of his liberty. Mrs Justice Lieven Lieven held that this was lawful as were he to be returned to hospital his condition would deteriorate and result in a breach of his convention rights. However, it was possible to read the Mental Health Act in a convention compliant manner by reading “liable to be detained” to mean liable in law to be detained for treatment, even where that treatment is being provided in the community, so long as it could lawfully be provided in hospital.