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Issues - Case Studies

Case 1 - A Judicial review

I, xxxxxx of xxxxxx do testify to give evidence to the Court.

My experiences as a father are given below:

1. In October 2002 I brought my wife and two children back to the UK after having found permanent employment in the UK. We had been living abroad and due mainly to employment circumstances had lived apart prior to our living together in the UK. In November 2002 my wife accused me of domestic violence and called the police. It was in fact she who had been violent in front of the children. A police officer arrived and took details from both parties and then left. Subsequent to this I consulted a solicitor who advised me to report every act of violence by my wife to the police and ensure that they logged the details. This I did on various but not all occasions and my wife was also violent and abusive to our eldest child. The police took no action on the domestic violence or child abuse, despite my having tape recordings of the incidents. I was told to sort things out between us and not to call the police as someone would be arrested. That person, I got the impression would be me. One WPC officer excused the child abuse as ‘kids can get on top of you sometimes’. No action was taken regarding my wife’s violence and abuse agaist me and our eldest child. The police have now apologised, the existence of the tape recordings had not been communicated to the Family Protection Unit. Charges are not being brought against my wife due to the expiry of limitation periods.

2. My wife subsequently in January 2003 disappeared into a Refuge abducting the children with her. Again the police were of no assistance.

3. I applied to the courts for residence, contact and a prohibited steps order. My wife attended court and made allegations of domestic violence. This resulted in my only being allowed to see the children at a contact centre. My wife did not turn up to the centre with the children. It was subsequently ordered that I could have limited unsupervised contact on Saturdays.

4. A Cafcass officers report was ordered. When published this turned out to be biased in favour of the mother. It was almost a simple regurgitation of her false allegations and concluded despite my founded and provable allegations and the admission of the mother that she had been abusive and violent towards our eldest child, it was my fault and the children should reside with the mother with defined contact for the children with the father.

5. Now, residency has been awarded by the courts to the mother with alternate weekend contact (overnight) with me with some additional holiday contact. This order was pretty much about what the mother and her legal team would accept. The judge was not ashamed to announce that in all his time as a judge he had only twice awarded shared residency orders and was of the view that my recording of domestic violence was wrong. Without these recordings I would not have received an apology from the police. He was also rather derogatory in his remarks about fathers rights groups but by inference appeared to regard the assistance of Women’s Aid in abducting the children in order.

6. The above is only a brief account of the facts of my children’s situation but indicate some of the bias within the system. Had I abducted the children in this manner they would without doubt have been returned home to their mother at the first hearing if not before. I was advised on several occasions that despite my wife’s behavioural problems and violence she would get residency of the children. Something I have not been able to understand. The children have been moved around the country and their lives severely disrupted by the actions of the mother. If they had been returned to their father they would have returned to their then home and attended their regular school, doctors etc. Overall and indication perhaps of the institutionalised bias against fathers and children.

I, XXXXXX DECLARE THAT :

I believe that the facts stated are true and that the opinions I have expressed are correct. I will swear the contents of this statement under oath and am willing to attend court as to give evidence.

Dated this 31st day of July 2003

xxxx xxxxx xxxxx


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