Legal News
Man with Down’s Syndrome had his human rights breached when he was banned from having sex with his wife (23 August 2017)
Date: 23/08/2017
A 38 year old man with Downs Syndrome has been awarded compensation after he was banned from having sex with his wife. The man won damages of £10,000 for a breach of his human rights, as he was forced to abstain from sexual intercourse with his wife for fifteen months
Although the man and his wife of five years had been enjoying “normal conjugal relations”, a consulting psychiatrist concluded in 2015 that the man did not have the capacity to consent and would have to complete a sexual education course to establish the necessary capacity. However, the man’s council did not provide the sexual education course for an extended period of time, forcing the man and his wife to sleep in separate bedrooms and abstain from sexual relations.
The man’s wife moved into a spare bedroom after social services informed her that she would be committing a serious criminal offence were she to get intimate with her husband. The Court of Protection also heard that she “significantly reduced any physical expressions of affection” so as not to “lead him on”. The judge, Sir Mark Hedley, highlighted the psychological impact that moving the man’s wife to another bedroom would have had on the man, who didn’t understand the reason for the move.
A relative took legal action on behalf of the man a year after the ban was given to the man, and asked a judge to order the council to implement the sexual education course as requested. The council has since apologised for the 15-month delay in providing the man with the “sex education to which he was entitled”, and have agreed to pay £10,000 in damages and cover some of the man’s legal bills.
On the 2 May this year the couple were finally given permission to have sex again, following a report from a further psychiatrist and a court ruling that compelled social workers to change their minds.
Sir Mark Hedley highlighted the complexity of the case: “Many would think that no couple should have had to undergo this highly intrusive move upon their personal privacy, yet such a move was in its essentials entirely lawful and properly motivated.”
Duncan Lewis Court Of Protection Department
Duncan Lewis' Court of Protection Department assists individuals in both publicly and privately funded cases from offices across London and throughout the UK. The department is recommended by the independent legal directory, Legal 500, as a leading practice in cases that overlap mental health and capacity, and deprivation of liberty safeguards. The firm is also applauded for its specialism in judicial review claimant matters and higher courts work.
For more information about our Court of Protection services, please contact Duncan Lewis Solicitors on 0333 772 0409.