John Hemming, a Birmingham MP who chairs the organisation "justice for families" is releasing a charity song called "bring the sunshine in" to fight miscarriages of justice against mothers and fathers.
"The song", he said, "calls for more openness in the Family Courts. Britain has a network of secret courts that lock up mothers, fathers and grandparents for heinous crimes like talking to their children or grand children. These secret courts make lots of money for lawyers and expert witnesses, but the general public is not allowed to know what goes on".
"The verses in the song refer to real situations although some of the names have been changed. If the names had not been changed then people could be sent to jail for playing the song because of the secret courts."
"The money raised will go to the Angela Cannings Foundation and to pay for advisors to help parents fight for justice."
"Not all of the decisions of the Family Courts are wrong, but many are. However, people are not allowed to reveal publicly what goes on in the court without permission. We do need a system to protect children, but it must be accountable. Those who abuse their power need to be held to account."
Explanation of the lyrics:
Lets bring the sunshine in
lets end this awful sin
mums and dads are being convicted
because the truth has been evicted
The chorus is one of the campaign's objectives. We need people to be able to talk about what happens in the Family Courts so that miscarriages of justice can be prevented. At the moment people have their children removed when they have not done anything wrong.
Sarah they said was slow
So her babe she had to go
In court the experts said
They turned the truth right on [upon] its head
This verse refers to a case which has been in the Court of Appeal. The judgment has been made public for the first hearing, but the second judgment is due for publication on Thursday 8th May. The name has been changed. It refers to someone who was told she was too stupid to tell her solicitor what to do. Hence an organisation called the "Official Solicitor" was appointed and they decided not to contest the case so there wasn't a trial. Let me stress the situation this woman's baby has been put up for adoption, but there has never been any trial at which she was allowed to challenge the assertions of the local authority. This fails under "audi alteram partem" aspect of Natural Justice.
Poor Sally's children died
in court the doctors lied
they put poor Sally inside
What have the courts got to hide
This verse refers to Sally Clark's case where the Doctors were thought to have so badly misled the jury that one of them was found guilty (after a number of court hearings) of "misconduct". Although this was a case in the Criminal Division it was infected by the bad practise in the unaccountable Family Courts.
Molly was wanted for a family switch
So they said [that] Fran was a Munchausen’s witch
She flew to Sweden to keep her babe
Of course The Doctors they got paid
This verse refers to the case of Fran and Molly Lyon. Fran left to have her baby in Stockholm which she did in January 2008. She is now a refugee from the Family Courts. It refers to the fact that the doctors make a lot of money out of being "expert witnesses". Some experts have admitted that they simply write what they are asked to write by the Local Authority that pays them.
The boys they say that they won’t talk to their mom
The judge says foster care is what must be done
Dad says its wrong by writing a book
He’s put in jail ‘cos somebody looked
This verse refers to a surreal case where two teenagers were placed in care because they refused to talk to their estranged mother. The local authority have continued to misbehave into May 2008.
Danny was eight when was stolen by the state
He ran away at 4 by the gate
Mom ran to France with her new baby’s dad
Sending him to jail the judge said he was bad
The middle 8 refers to another "mum on the run" who escaped to France with her 8 year old son (whose name has been changed). Her husband was imprisoned for 16 months for driving her to France. He was released from prison in late April 2008. Whilst in France she was airlifted to hospital to have her new baby.
Lyrics Note: The lyrics are not totally precise a number of things have been changed for legal and artistic reasons.
Production: The tune was written by John AM Hemming MP in collaboration with John A Hemming (no relation). The Lyrics were written by John AM Hemming MP. The song was produced by John A Hemming of Moseley Sounds who performed most of the instruments and sung by John AM Hemming MP.
Distribution: The tune will be available via iTunes, Amazon, Coolmusic, orchard, beatport and eMusic and is a worldwide digital release.
Comments