Sophia Roper KC and Benjamin Harrison successfully appeared before the Vice-president of the Court of Protection, Theis J, in Re RF (No.2) [2026] EWCOP 41 (T3)
21st August 2026
Sophia Roper KC and Benjamin Harrison successfully appeared before the Vice-president of the Court of Protection, Theis J, in Re RF (No.2) [2026] EWCOP 41 (T3) on behalf of the Official Solicitor. This case concerned an application by a Scottish local authority seeking recognition and enforcement of a foreign protective measure under Schedule 3 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
This Schedule 3 application is the sequel to RF (No.1) [2025] EWCOP 1 (T3) in which Sophia and Ben persuaded Theis J to refuse to recognise and enforce a previous Scottish Guardianship Order concerning RF in England on the basis that, among other things, that order had been made in circumstances which breached RF’s rights under Article 5(4) ECHR.
Following the decision in RF (No.1), the Scottish local authority invited the Scottish sheriff to renew the Guardianship Order taking into account the deficiencies identified by the Official Solicitor in the previous Schedule 3 application for recognition and enforcement. This included inviting the Scottish sheriff to (1) reduce the length of the order from three years to one year in duration and (2) appoint an independent, legally qualified, Safeguarder to ensure that RF’s right to a regular review of his detention under Article 5(4) is effective.
With these modifications, the renewed application for recognition and enforcement was unopposed.
At para 76, the court also applied the new multi-factorial approach to determining when someone is deprived of their liberty following AGNI [2026] UKSC 16.
Sophia and Ben were instructed by Melissa Law of Edwards Duthie Shamash solicitors.
The link to the judgment in RF (No.1) can be found here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewcop/t3/2025/12?query=RF
The link to the judgment in RF (No.2) can be found here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewcop/t3/2026/41?query=RF
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