94-year-old is gagged by secret court: Draconian order silences pensioner in row with council social workers

SUE REID dailymail.co.uk A frail pensioner of 94 is being barred from speaking to the Press in a draconian ruling by the Court  of Protection. The former NHS midwife has been gagged after staging a street protest  and lodging a petition at Parliament, complaining about her treatment by social workers. She was silenced this week, despite begging the judge at a Court of Protection hearing to stop social workers from Redbridge, North-East London, meddling in her life. Standing up from her wheelchair, the pensioner, who can be described only as Miss G, bravely told Mr Justice Cobb at the hearing in London: ‘I am quite capable of speaking for myself. I know what I want and what I need. I am in my right senses. ‘I don’t what them (social workers) to cross my gates or come to my house. I want to be left alone by these people.’ The controversial gag, which could last her lifetime, flies in the face of demands by the top family court judge Sir James Munby for more openness in the shadowy Court of Protection, allowing those appearing there to speak out and complain about their experiences. His comments marked a victory for the Mail, which has campaigned against secrecy in the family courts. Miss G is stopped by a judge’s ruling at an earlier hearing from naming herself publicly and if she breaches that order or the one that now stops her speaking to the Press, the sanctions include the prospect of a prison sentence or the seizure of her assets. The gag on her freedom of speech will last until a psychiatrist, selected by Redbridge Council, assesses her mental capacity to give Press interviews and supplies his evidence at a hearing this summer. The hearings involving Miss G have been brought by social workers who believe her decisions are unduly influenced by her two private carers who came to live at her £350,000 house in outer London two years ago. The court has already ruled that Miss G does not have the mental capacity to decide on her living arrangements and financial affairs.