International child abduction – the punishing consequences of an order for return: Re P (Inherent Jurisdiction Return: Return Order: Welfare Analysis) [2023] EWHC 225 (Fam)

Mary Welstead Visiting Professor in Family law University of Buckingham

In February 2023 Mrs Justice Knowles granted an order for the return of a child aged six to Nigeria from the UK to where she had been removed by her mother. The claim for asylum by the mother for herself and the child had been refused and an appeal had been made which at the date of the order had not been heard Knowles J held that the order was not to be carried out until the appeal had been decided.

The decision illustrates the difficulties in international child abduction cases and in particular the significant discrepancy between the consequences for the parent who has removed the child compared with the parent to whom the child is returned. The mother who resisted the claim for return was deeply unhappy with her marriage and felt abused isolated and unsupported. The court acknowledged that the father was a selfish adulterer. He demanded that his wife obey him which was expected by his family and his Yoruban culture.

Counsel for the mother had little...