{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Talking Family Law - The Resolution Podcast","title":"Covert Recordings and Tracking Devices","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2721,"description":"To start our season with a bang, we are joined by Natasha Watson, Head of Law in Brighton & Hove City Council, and Darren Howe KC, 1 Crown Office Row Brighton, to discuss covert recordings and tracking devices.   Natasha was a member of the Family Justice Working Group who developed the Family Justice Council guidance into covert recording: https://www.judiciary.uk/related-offices-and-bodies/advisory-bodies/family-justice-council/resources-and-guidance/covert-recordings-in-family-law-proceedings-concerning-children/.  Note, Natasha joined us in her personal capacity today and was not speaking on behalf of the Family Justice Council. At the outset, Natasha reminds us of the words of then Mr Justice Jackson as long ago as 2016 about recordings in M v F (Covert Recording of Children) [2016] EWFC 29 https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/HCJ/2016/29.htmlIt is almost always likely to be wrong for a recording device to be placed on a child for the purpose of gathering evidence in family proceedings, whether or not the child is aware of its presence. This should hardly need saying, but nowadays it is all too easy for individuals to record other people without their knowledge. Advances in technology empower anyone with a mobile phone or a tablet to make recordings that would be the envy of yesterday’s spies. This judgment describes the serious consequences that have arisen for one family after a parent covertly recorded a child in this way.Covert recordings are a form of hearsay evidence, which is why the evidence is not automatically admissible.  Natasha and Darren wrestle with where the balance will fall when the Court is considering the abuse of privacy and potentially abusive nature of the recordings, set against the fact that this form of evidence can be determinative of particular fact.  They advise that you need to ask yourself:whether the recording is relevant to one of the disputed issues in the case?is the recording reliable or could it have been modified?what is...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/6KLL2IpaFH3iBShZ7ocYn8lY8fxSACTIJV16OjWXP6U/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzE5Mjc0LzE2MTcy/NzQ4OTQtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}