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case 6

In Respect of the Human Rights Inquiry in front of Judge Devaux at Ispwich Crown Court February 23rd to 25th February 2004

Case number:///

I, //// of //// say as follows:

1. I make this statement in support of the application filed against the widespread, systematic and persistent abuses of fathers and children's rights by the UK Family Courts.

2. I am the father of two young boys, XXX born 28th October 1993 and YYY born 19th July 1997. I was married to their mother ZZZ (nee ZZZ) on 31st August 1991 and divorced from said on 16th September 1999. Since December 1998 the children and I have been subjected to a system that at best has failed us because of its woeful inadequacies and at worst has been deliberately used to destroy our right to a normal family life. The Court under whose jurisdiction I came under was Worcester Family Court.

3. My first encounter with the Family Court System was on the 22nd of December 1998 when an ex-parte ousting and non-molestation order was served on me without any prior warning. Despite being a loving father and sharing dual carer responsibilities, with no criminal record what so ever, and never being accused of any form of violence or misdemeanour I was ordered to leave my house and not be a part of my children’s lives. I was catapulted out of the boys lives on the basis of unproven lies and fabricated evidence. The Family Court have never sort to deal with this fundamental injustice and in refusing to consider evidence have aided and abetted an offender.

4. Much of the basis of the decisions surrounding my son’s residency and my contact with them were made on inaccurate reports from the Family Court Welfare Service, (now known as CAFCASS). I was considerably disadvantaged by these reports. I informed the case officer at thime that my ex wife wished to exclude me from the children’s lives and would try to alienate them from their natural father. This information was dismissed with contempt.

5. I have also found myself coerced into agreeing to certain compromises which were totally inappropriate to the needs of the children and I, for example restrictive and supervised contact orders at contact centres where there were convicted criminals present.

6. During the last five years I have had at least 18 different orders for prescribed contact with my sons. None of these have ever been fully complied with by my ex-wife or her new husband. Despite prescribed laws under the 1989 Children’s Act, compelling the Judges to address this issue no action has ever been taken against my ex-wife and virtually no attempt has ever been made to ensure Orders that have been made with the children’s best interests in mind have been adhered to.

7. At every instance I have had to concede contact with my children and the frequency and duration. In 2000 my case was heard before his Honour Judge Morris. Judge Morris ruled on the basis of complete hear-say and inaccurate reporting from CAFCAS that my eldest son “should only go on contact visits if he expressed a wish to do so”. XXX was only 6 years old at the time and therefore should not have been made responsible for this decision. I understand that the lowest age where the Court will take the wishes of the child into consideration is 12 years old. Clearly Judge Morris’ ruling cut across all convention was inappropriate and failed to properly take into consideration XXX’s needs. I believe that Judge Morris made this judgement not on the basis of fact but because he was irritated by the fact that I chose to be a litigant in person. His ruling effectively ended all contact with XXX who I have now had no contact with since that disgraceful event.

8. Since this time I have battled on to try and keep the relationship I have with YYY alive. However, now YYY is older he is experiencing the same pressures that XXX lived through. I am fearful for our relationship, and delays in hearing our case have severely impacted on the prospects for YYY to enjoy a sustained relationship with his father. My Action is on-going and I believe has only been maintained with the help of my solicitors and my own personal resolve. The case was helped initially by His Honour Judge Geddes in 1999 and again by a new approach taken by Judge Marston last year, but at each time neither Judge saw the matter through to conclusion and any momentum has been lost. Inconsistency and the lack of the same Judge hearing the case is another way that the system is failing us. One of the Judges: His Honour Judge Cole, by his own admission never even read the papers.

9. My own life and that of the children’s paternal grand parents have suffered abysmally because the Courts refuse to deal with issues as they should in statute. I feel that my whole life is defined by a struggle to stay a part of my son’s lives. I was once told by a Deputy District Judge from the Worcester Circuit that: “If I liked Children, I should get another woman and have some more, because the Courts can do nothing to help you”. If this is the accepted view of the British judiciary then the UK Family Court system is morally bankrupt and should be completely disbanded and something more appropriate put in its stead.

10. I believe that the facts stated in this statement are true.

signed ////

Dated


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