The High Court has ruled that two children must be returned to Northern Ireland under the Hague Convention, after finding that their father was exercising custody rights and that their mother had not established a defence to return. The court did not set the practical arrangements in this judgment and said it would hear the parties on how the return should happen, including any application for a stay.
The case concerns two children, referred to as C, aged 12, and S, aged eight. Their parents were not married. The mother, who represented herself, accepted that the children had been habitually resident in Northern Ireland and that their father had custody rights. She sought to resist their return, citing alleged violence, the children’s objections and concern that she would have nowhere to live if required to return.
The judge found that the father had exercised his custody rights. The children had attended a small number of supervised contact visits with him at a contact centre. A centre letter described their relationship as appearing warm. The court also found that the mother had not proved the father consented to the children’s removal. She had not contacted him directly about it, and the father said he had not consented.
On grave risk, the mother alleged physical and sexual abuse and referred to prosecutions, all of which the judgment says were withdrawn. The judge did not determine whether the allegations of violence were true: there had been no cross-examination and insufficient evidence to decide that question. The court considered the allegations on the assumption they were true, but found they did not establish grave risk on the evidence before it. The children’s contact with their father had been limited and supervised, and the judge considered that any risk could be assessed and addressed by Northern Ireland’s courts and social services.
The court accepted that both children objected to returning and that their views could be considered. It nevertheless declined to refuse return. The judge considered their reasons to relate substantially to their new home, school and friends, and weighed the father’s efforts to maintain a relationship and the presence of his extended family near the children’s former home. The judgment said family-law matters were already before the courts in Northern Ireland, where a formal residence arrangement accommodating access might later be made.
The judge also rejected the financial-hardship argument. The mother had provided no evidence about her circumstances or available support in Northern Ireland, so the court could not find that she or the children would be destitute. The judgment ends without setting a return date or conditions: the court reserved the practical arrangements and any stay issue for further submissions.