Re CB (International Relocation: Domestic Abuse: Child Arrangements)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | The Honourable Mr. Justice Cobb,The Hon Mr. Justice Cobb |
| Judgment Date | 30 June 2017 |
| Neutral Citation | [2017] EWFC 39 |
| Docket Number | Case No: NE16P02355 |
| Court | Family Court |
| Date | 30 June 2017 |
[2017] EWFC 39
IN THE FAMILY COURT
SITTING AT NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE
Family Court
Quayside
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
The Honourable Mr. Justice Cobb
Case No: NE16P02355
Elizabeth Mendoza (instructed by Ben Hoare Bell) for the Mother
Daniel Pitt (instructed by Direct Access) for the Father
Hearing dates: 20, 26 and 28 June
This judgment was delivered in private. The judge has given leave for this version of the judgment to be published on condition that (irrespective of what is contained in the judgment) in any published version of the judgment the anonymity of the children and members of their family must be strictly preserved. All persons, including representatives of the media, must ensure that this condition is strictly complied with. Failure to do so will be a contempt of court.
Introduction
The Court is concerned with the welfare of one child, a girl, CB, who is 16 months old. She is the only child of the parties – respectively "the mother" and "the father". CB's parents are not married, but the father, whose name is registered on her birth certificate, has parental responsibility for her. The parents live separately, and have done so for several months.
The parents have each made applications in respect of CB. The father's application, first in time (9 December 2016), is for a child arrangements order to provide for CB to live with him or spend time with him, and for a prohibited steps order preventing the mother from removing CB from the jurisdiction. The mother has separately applied to the court (17 February 2017) for permission to remove CB from the jurisdiction to reside with her permanently in Portugal. Both applications are framed under section 8 Children Act 1989 to which section 1(1) and 1(3) (ibid.) apply. Proceedings under the Family Law Act 1996 brought by the mother against the father have been dealt with separately (see [14] below).
For the purposes of determining the applications, I have read with care the statements of the parties, from whom I have also heard oral evidence; I have read additional statements, and heard evidence from, the paternal grandmother, Ms. K (a social worker from Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council ('MBC'), the section 7 reporter), and Mr. M a social worker from the Family Intervention Team of Gateshead MBC. The social work representatives gave evidence by video-link (by agreement, and order of the court dated 12 June) given their concerns for their own safety in the presence of the father. The case was originally given a time estimate of one day; this was (as counsel before me readily acknowledged) wholly unrealistic, but with some creative listing, the case has been accommodated into my list while on circuit, and has concluded within three days.
Background facts
The mother is 29 years old; she is a Portuguese national. She has lived in England since 2010, when she arrived to undertake a degree course at the University of Newcastle. The mother's wider family all reside in Portugal. The father is 35 years old; he is a British national. The parties met in 2012. Their relationship lasted for approximately 4 years, and they separated in October 2016 when CB was 8 months old.
The mother asserts that the relationship with the father was, certainly in its later stages, emotionally abusive; she complains that he was controlling and aggressive, and she felt unsafe. The parents had very different parenting styles, and attitudes to child-rearing which caused tensions between them, and increasingly disagreements. The final breakdown of the relationship was, in any view, difficult and highly conflictual – the parents argued regularly and there were occasional physical altercations. The father admitted to the police (when interviewed in relation to a harassment charge: see [6] below) that he regularly shouted at the mother. The mother asked the father to leave the home in September 2016, but he declined to do so. Over the period in which the parents' relationship was breaking down, the police were contacted by one or other parent on no fewer than nine occasions over a period of 6 months. In September 2016, the health visitor made a safeguarding referral to Gateshead MBC, concerned about the effect of parental dispute upon CB.
In October 2016, the mother took CB to Portugal for a 2-week break. Over that time, the father telephoned the mother repeatedly; he admits now that he "bombarded" her with calls. On 12 November, he was arrested and interviewed under caution; he was later charged with, and in March 2017 convicted of, an offence of harassment, for which he received a conditional discharge. The note of the district judge's sentencing remarks before me indicates that the judge was influenced in passing that sentence by the fact that at the time of the offence the father was unwell.
That is a reference to the fact that at or about the time of the relationship breakdown, the father was diagnosed with Graves' Disease, an autoimmune disease which affects the thyroid; this frequently results in, and is the most common cause of, hyperthyroidism. Recognised signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism include irritability, sleeping problems, and a fast heartbeat. The condition was apparently brought under control with prescribed drugs. The mother accepts that the father did indeed become unwell at the time of their break-up, and accepted that certain aspects of his behaviour changed when his condition developed. She felt, however, that the disease could not explain the inconsistency of his manner towards herself, and towards others. In this period, the father repeatedly accused the mother of being mentally unwell; he was sure that she was suffering from post-natal depression, and lacking capacity to make decisions for CB. The mother denies this and there is no evidence of the same; that said, the mother has suffered, and continues to suffer, from an eating disorder, although the evidence indicates that it was well-contained in the relevant period and indeed to date.
In November 2016, the father self-referred for counselling to help him with his behaviours; however, having been triaged for possible treatment, the therapist wrote to him:
"I did not feel that it was the right time for you to seek talking therapy for your distress and worry. I felt these problems were appropriate given your difficult personal circumstances" (3.11.16).
The father attended a further appointment with Gateshead Talking Therapies in March 2017, at which a mutual view seems to have been reached that their service "would not be the best service to meet your needs at this time", and he was discharged.
In or around November 2016, the mother was referred to a MARAC assessed as a high-risk victim of abuse. On 10 April 2017, the MARAC considered that the mother remained at high risk of abuse from the father.
On 13 December 2016, the mother travelled to Portugal for Christmas with her family. On the previous day, the father had obtained a without notice Prohibited Steps Order; there is some dispute about when the mother knew of the order's existence, and specifically whether she did so at the time she travelled. The mother returned to the UK on 14 January 2017. In the meantime, it is reported that the father had tried unsuccessfully to contact the mother and her family, and in desperation had contacted the police making threats to self-harm as he said he was concerned about the welfare of CB; the police checked on the welfare of CB remotely (by phone) and were able then to re-assure him.
Gateshead MBC had become involved with the family following the health visitor safeguarding referral (see [5] above). The health visitor's concern was that parental conflict was affecting CB; she noted the parents' markedly different parenting styles. When this referral was followed by separate police involvement, the Local Authority's Family Intervention Team was engaged to support the couple; Mr. M from the Intervention Team was allocated to the task. Mr. M visited the home on several occasions, and spoke with both parents; he assessed the father to be interchangeably overtly and passively aggressive, and rejecting of advice. The father perceived Mr. M to favour the mother and her situation, and repeatedly suggested in his evidence before me that Mr. M "flirted" with the mother. It is evident from all that I have read and heard that the father became increasingly irritated, indeed angry, with the involvement of the social worker, specifically perhaps because he believed that Mr. M had wrongly encouraged the mother to leave him. The father further felt that what was needed was 'child in need' intervention, given his belief that because of the mother's mental ill-health (as he perceived it), CB was at risk.
The documents before me contain various reports by social work staff that the father had threatened to "attack" Mr. M, and had expressed the hope that Mr. M would "break his legs" while on a period of leave; the father accepted that he had indeed made comments to that effect, though said that he had intended the "break a leg" comment to be a good luck greeting. It is reported that in December 2016, the father threatened to "go after" the social worker, Mr. M, and that he "could not guarantee" that he would not "do something" to him. The allegation was reported to the police. The father rejected the social worker's advice to consult a solicitor, and appeared irritated (when giving his evidence to me) that this had been repeatedly suggested to him.
The social work records reveal that during his involvement Mr. M urged the mother to consider the father's right to have a relationship with CB, although the mother refused to countenance this. The involvement of the...
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...its earlier formulation). The cases are: Re CB (International Relocation: Domestic Abuse: Child Arrangements) – Cobb J: 30 June 2017 — [2017] EWFC 39; [2017] 3 FCR 273; Re D (Appeal: Failure of Case Management) – Peter Jackson J: 24 July 2017 — [2017] EWHC 1907 (Fam); [2017] 3 FCR 451. In ......