EUPillar A B M v J M, JBM and MJM (by their Guardian ad L J S) [2008] EWHC 2049 (Fam)

Summary

The child abduction proceedings were initiated by the mother on 9th July 2008. The parties were both Polish nationals who got married in Poland. This was a second set of proceedings under the Hague Convention. The first one resulted in a consent order of 5th March 2007, providing for the children’s return to Poland where the merits of the dispute were to be heard and determined. However, the father was not entirely satisfied with the direction of the Polish proceedings. On 5th June 2007, the father and the children returned to England. The mother had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the children until 15th June 2008. She sought the return of the children to Poland. The children, who were respectively born in September 1999 and September 2002, were joined as parties to the proceedings, being represented by their Guardian. The father objected on the grounds of children’s settlement in England as well as of children’s application. The application for the children’s return was granted, and the father’s defences were dismissed. Mrs Justice Black held: “46 […] The guardian was surprised to find them more unforthcoming about their situation than would normally be expected at their age. There is no doubt of the considerable influence of their father upon their views. His approach to them in this regard will have prevented them from maturing in the normal way, at least in relation to their feelings about their future and possibly, I fear, in other ways too. In these circumstances, whilst I obviously acknowledge that for the vast majority of the time, they have said they want to live in England with their father rather than returning to Poland, in my judgment no weight can appropriately be given to those views in determining whether the children should be returned to Poland.” [46].