Family Court judgments 2021
Judge: Nicholas Mostyn
The mother had abducted the children from Italy to England and then alienated them from the father. The judge ruled that they must be returned to Italy.
26 February 2021
Judge: Elizabeth Isaacs
Expert: Mark Berelowitz
Anarkali Musgrave for the father
2 March 2021
Judge: David Williams
June Venters for the father
F v M & Ors [2021] EWHC 553 (Fam)
11 March 2021
Judge: Frances Judd
The judge rejected the mother’s allegations of child sexual abuse, but stated: “I have not found that her campaign to seek justice, though misguided, was cynical.”
17 March 2021
Judge: David Williams
Expert: Alice Rogers, independent social worker: Francisca Serrette
Father alleged to have alienated 15 year old boy against mother. Bridging placement in foster care was found to be more harmful than the boy living with the father.
30 March 2021
Judge: Lady Justice Roberts
19 April 2021
Justice Vincent authorised the removal of parental responsibility from a father who had tried to stab the mother to death while she was walking their child home from school, and also allowed the child to change her surname. The father accused the mother of parental alienation.
24 June 2021
Judge Lindsay Davies - parental alienation diagnosed by unnamed expert, later named in [2022] EWFC 89 as Melanie Gill.
2 July 2021
Judge Frances Judd allowed an appeal by the mother against Recorder Glancy’s case management decision to exclude evidence of a course of coercively controlling behaviour, while the father counter-alleged parental alienation by the mother.
6 July 2021
Judge: Joanna Vincent
Expert: Peter Misch
Cafcass guardian: Charley Hampshire, who developed the Cafcass Positive Parenting Programme.
Note: Joanna Vincent instructed Peter Misch in [2017] EWFC B35, the case where the mother was found guilty of parental alienation even though the father had smashed her teeth in.
7 July 2021
Judge: Frances Judd
Experts: Mark Berelowitz, Anna Freud Centre
15 year old girl permitted to live with mother six years after transfer of residence to father and repeated refusal of separation legal representation for girl. Parental alienation not explicitly mentioned.
[2021] IEHC 556 - Ireland
21 July 2021
Judge: Bronagh O’Hanlon
Experts: Jim Sheehan, Brian O’Sullivan, Caoimhe Nic Dhomhnaill
29 July 2021
Judge: Nicholas Holman
The judge allowed the return of a 15 year old girl’s passport to permit her to visit maternal family in Siberia, against the wishes of the father, who claimed his daughter had been subjected to a prolonged campaign of parental alienation by the mother and maternal grandmother. The mother was to remain in the UK and would be jailed and prevented from seeing her daughter for a long time if the daughter failed to return to the UK.
30 July 2021
Judge: Joanna Vincent
Expert: Peter Misch
19 August 2021
Judge: Jonathan Whybrow
Expert: Darren Spooner
To be read in conjunction with [2021] EWFC B57 (February 2021)
Jonathan Whybrow is the Designated Family Judge for Humberside and North Lincolnshire, appointed by Sir Andrew McFarlane.
Lucy Reed, Transparency Project:
Stumbling across a paradigm case - Introduction
Stumbling across a paradigm case - Part 2
Stumbling across a paradigm case - Part 3
Stumbling across a paradigm case - Part 4
B v C (private law - allegations of parental alienation) [2021] EWFC B61
6 September 2021
Judge: Joanna Vincent
Expert: Nick Woodall
Cafcass guardian: Charley Hampshire, who developed the Cafcass Positive Parenting Programme.
14 September 2021
Judge: Richard Harrison
Transfer of residence from mother in England to father in Hungary under the Hague Convention. The Hungarian authorities had found the mother’s allegations of child sexual abuse to be unfounded, and the English authorities agreed.
20 September 2021
Judge: Jeremy Richardson
Phillip Hartley was committed to prison for ten months to serve half the term and ordered to pay the Attorney General’s costs of £22,423 for contempt of court for repeatedly publishing offensive material about the mother of his children and family court professionals. Phillip Hartley was a campaigner in the parental alienation lobby and claimed to be a victim of parental alienation.
Reported in the Doncaster Free Press.
29 September 2021
Judge: Jennifer Roberts
Analysis by Lucy Reed
12 November 2021
Judge: David Williams
23 November 2021
Judges: Eleanor King, Guy Newey, Richard Arnold
Psychologist: Denise McCartan
Parental alienation not mentioned.
24 November 2021
Judge: David McFarland
Mother died. Daughters aged 15 and 16 wanted to remain living with grandmother. Father claimed parental alienation and demanded an expert, which was refused. His appeal was dismissed.
15 December 2021
Judge: Louise O’Neill
Expert: Graham Flatman
Independent social worker: Alison Bushell
Counsel for NYAS for the children’s guardian: Jack Harrison
16 December 2021
Judge: Nathalie Lieven following from judgment by Michael Keehan
Experts: Julet Butler and Gabrielle Gregory
Father’s barrister: Victoria Clifford
Children’s guardian: Miss Lock
Local authority: Wolverhampton City Council
Two boys aged 14 and 16 were in foster care since removal from their mother in July 2020, but were extremely unhappy and wanted to return to their mother. They had weekly supervised contact with the mother and older brother. Application by father, who was no longer pursuing contact with the boys, to further reduce their contact with the mother and older brother “to an absolute minimum”. The boys and their older brother, who had remained with the mother as he was almost 18 at the time of Keehan’s fact finding, had made numerous allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse against the father and paternal family. In his fact finding, Keehan had ruled that all of these allegations were false and not discouraged by the mother. Mrs Justice Lieven made an order for the boys to be allowed to live with their mother, on the grounds that keeping them in foster care against their wishes was causing them greater harm than the risk that the mother and older brother would encourage their “false narrative”.