A child, who was not the eldest child, could qualify as the ‘nearest relative’ under s26 Mental Health Act 1983, for the purposes of an application for admission under s3 MHA 1983, if that child’s care was more than minimal. The court could not, and should not, inquire into the reasonableness of a social worker’s decision as to whom the nearest relative appeared to him to be, only into the honesty of his assertion.
