Brain-damaged woman wins right to have sex - despite her mother's objections, appeal court judges rule.

A brain-damaged woman had the capacity to decide whether to have sex, despite her family insisting otherwise, an appeal court has ruled. 

The woman has been at the centre of litigation in the Court of Protection over whether she has the mental capacity to make decisions about having sexual relations. 

The three Court of Appeal judges also concluded that courts could make general evaluations about the capacity of disabled people to make decisions about sex.

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The woman has been at the centre of litigation in the Court of Protection over whether she has the mental capacity to make decisions about having sexual relations

They said it would be impossible for a court to conduct an assessment every time a disabled person, whose capacity to consent to sex was questionable, showed an interest in having a sexual encounter.

The Court of Appeal upheld a ruling by a High Court judge sitting in the Court of Protection, following a challenge by the woman’s mother.

Mr Justice Peter Jackson ruled that the woman, who is in her 40s, had the capacity to make decisions about sex.

He said she had been sexually active before suffering a brain injury, understood the 'rudiments of the sexual act' and had a basic understanding of contraception and of the risks of sexually-transmitted diseases.

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