Latest news with #familycourt
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Boy taken into care in Slough over sex offender dad concerns
A young boy will be taken into care after a judge found his mother was incapable of protecting him from his sex offender Children First took the case to court over concerns about the contact the father, who was found to have sexually abused his daughter in 2021, was having with the boy's two siblings, including the girl, were taken into care after she alleged that her father had regularly abused father was jailed for two years in 2013 for sexually assaulting a woman. A judge at Slough Family Court found the boy's mother was unwilling or unable to protect the boy. Assessments found the mother's IQ was within the "extremely low range" and ranked on the 0.5th agreements banned the father from visiting the mother's home but he was found to have gone there multiple times over a seven-month boy has significant speech and language delays and was undergoing an assessment for Richard Case found on Thursday that moving the boy from his mother's care would cause harm "but that harm is less than the risk of harm in the mother's care".The father had told social workers that "children can be at fault for sexual abuse" and had continued to deny the accuracy of findings and convictions against judge found that the mother had be unwilling or unable to engage in sexual abuse awareness work or deny the father's judge said: "Should [the boy] come to read this judgement in due course I would want him to be aware that his mother loves him very much and has fought for him to remain in her care."But sadly her limitations, largely not of her own making, mean remaining in her care is just not possible for welfare reasons." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- The Guardian
Teacher and barrister who ran abusive home cannot be identified, high court rules
A primary school teacher smashed their adoptive children's heads together, forced them to swallow soap and called one of them a 'black bastard'. Their partner – a barrister who also sat as a deputy district judge in the family courts – repeatedly failed to protect the children from their campaign of abuse. But despite the findings, the high court has ruled that the couple cannot be identified after The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) led a legal attempt to name them in the public interest. Mrs Justice Theis said she had reached the 'very difficult decision' after undertaking a careful balancing exercise between the rights of the media and the children's right to privacy. To the outside world the couple, who adopted five children, portrayed a happy family image which they used to promote their respective careers. But behind closed doors they ran a household controlled by what Theis described as an 'undercurrent of fear'. The barrister, who specialised in children's cases, was aware of the abuse but failed to intervene. The court found the children were subjected to physical assaults, denied proper meals and that a lock was placed on the pantry to stop them helping themselves to food. Punishments designed to humiliate included locking them outside the house without shoes on or making them stand against a wall. One child had his head flushed down the toilet and was referred to as 'a disease'. Another had his spectacles confiscated to prevent him from reading. Both parents deny the allegations but did not seek to challenge them. In a judgment published today Theis said the arguments put forward on each side relating to the issue of anonymity were compelling but was ultimately in the best interests of the children. At the heart of the case are three boys who find themselves back in the care system after suffering significant harm at the hands of their parents. Usually it is in the interests of children who have been the subject of abuse to keep the identity of their family confidential. In this case however, there were welfare arguments put forward on behalf of the children in favour of naming the parents. These included that identifying them would serve to validate their experiences and refute anything later made public by the parents who dispute the allegations and previously threatened to 'one day fight for justice'. Initially the guardian for the younger two boys, appointed by the court to represent their best interests, supported the naming of the parents in court judgments but shifted her position to neutral just over a week before a hearing in April. It came after the parents said they would be willing to have contact with the children on the condition their identities were protected. Previously they had been resolute about not seeing them despite being aware of the boys' wishes to do so. It was submitted there was significant public interest in naming the parents due to the jobs each had held during the time of the abuse. Both worked in roles that brought them into direct contact with children, while the judge was making important decisions about their welfare. Theis said the balancing exercise was 'exquisitely poised' and that TBIJ had set out 'powerful arguments' supported by other media organisations. However, she ultimately decided in favour of the children's rights to privacy. She said their welfare needs were best achieved away from the glare of any publicity. The two younger siblings left the family home in January 2024 and reported to police they had been abused by the teacher. The older sibling, who was separately represented in the court proceedings, and was already in foster care at that time, also disclosed abuse. One boy told police the teacher had pushed him against a wall, put their hands around his throat and threatened to kill him. He also said he had been made to wear shoes that were too small for him and that he'd been subjected to racial slurs, including the 'N-word'. Theis said the children were caused further significant harm as a result of delays to the court process, caused 'in very large part' to the conduct of the parents who said they suffered from fragile mental health. A police investigation into the teacher and barrister, who were bailed after being arrested, was closed in July 2024 and no charges were brought.
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Watchdog calls for action on children's care case delays in England and Wales
The proportion of children in England and Wales subject to care proceedings who are having to wait more than a year to have their case resolved has increased more than 17-fold in the last seven years, a watchdog has found. The average duration of proceedings brought by local authorities to protect a child from harm (known as public law cases) was 36 weeks last year, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). In 2014 the government set a time limit of 26 weeks but it has never been met. In a report published on Wednesday, the NAO says the proportion of children waiting more than a year for a public law case to be resolved increased from 0.7% in January 2017 to 12% in December last year. The figures equate to approximately 70 and 1,200 children respectively. The watchdog is urging the government to do more to tackle delays that can mean children waiting longer for permanent care and living or contact arrangements, increasing risk of harm, anxiety, instability and disrupted friendships or education. Including private law cases, which involve parental disputes such as living or contact arrangements for their child, there were more than 4,000 children in England and Wales in family court proceedings lasting two years in December 2024. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chair of the House of Commons public accounts committee, said: 'Too many children are suffering as a result of delays to family court proceedings, which are currently still far too long. The longer a case remains unresolved, the more likely it is that there are further delays, increasing the risk of harm to children and driving up public costs. 'Responsibilities for family justice are fragmented, with no single body responsible for overall performance. Government has neither the right data to fully understand the causes or impacts of delays, nor does it have an assessment of the capacity required to manage the system efficiently.' In December, nearly two-thirds of the 4,000 cases that had been open for 100 weeks or longer were in London and the south-east. London had an average duration of 53 weeks for cases brought by local authorities and 70 weeks for cases brought by parents. Wales performed best, averaging 24 weeks and 18 weeks respectively. Where there were longer delays, this reflected issues such as lower judicial capacity in those areas, the NAO said. There is no government time limit for private law cases, which took 41 weeks on average last year. The watchdog said the impact of delays on costs was significant, as evidence and assessments needed to be updated. Average spending on legal aid for a case brought by a local authority doubled between 2018 and 2022 from approximately £6,000 to about £12,000 – an annual increase of £314m in legal aid spending. Family courts have recovered much better than crown courts after the Covid-19 pandemic, with 47,662 family court cases outstanding (37,541 of them private law cases), down by more than a quarter since August 2021. But Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said: 'Many cases still take too long to complete and further action is needed to remove the barriers to a more efficient system, including poor-quality data and fragmented decision-making.' A government spokesperson said it had inherited a justice system in crisis, adding: 'We are working hard to improve their experience in the family courts further by expanding the successful pathfinder pilot, which has already reduced case times by 11 weeks, and investing £500m in early intervention. Cases are now moving faster.'
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The Independent
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘It Wasn't Me' singer caught up in family court battle over dead father's fortune
The singer who teamed up with Shaggy for the number one hit 'It Wasn't Me' is caught up in a bitter family court battle over his dead father's £1m fortune. British-Jamaican vocalist Rickardo 'Rik Rok' Ducent co-wrote the 2001 smash with Shaggy. He sang the main vocals on the track, which was the best-selling single of the year in the UK and has since clocked up more than one billion plays on Spotify. In the song, Rik laments that he's been 'caught red-handed' cheating on his partner, while Shaggy urges him to tell her: 'It wasn't me'. The hit, which reached number one in 10 countries, carved out Rik Rok's name as a solo artist. However, the singer, now aged 52, is caught up in a fraught inter-family legal clash after his half-sister, Sarah Ducent, went to court claiming a fair share of the £900,000-plus fortune bequeathed by their father, Herbert Ducent. Herbert died in 2007, aged 63, leaving behind assets in both London and Jamaica. The clash at Central London County Court pits Sarah against Rik Rok's mother, Dorothy Ducent, who had worked alongside Herbert in his south London bakery business and inherited his wealth after his death. Rik, whose birth name is Rickardo George Ducent, was previously a party to the dispute. He gave evidence in court to support his mother's defence to her stepdaughter's claim. Herbert was an entrepreneur who established a successful construction company in Jamaica, as well as running the bakery in Brixton. His English estate mainly consisted of two neighbouring properties in Peak Hill, Sydenham, jointly valued at around £900,000. His Jamaican assets have yet to be quantified in the British courts, although his daughter Sarah said he owned significant real estate on the island. In his will, drawn up in Jamaica, Herbert named his widow Dorothy as his main heir, cutting out his daughter, Sarah, from whom Rik claims he had become 'estranged'. But Sarah, who says she is now living 'on the breadline', has gone to court in a bid to secure 'reasonable provision' from her father's estate in line with the terms of the 1975 Inheritance Act as his dependant. If she is to succeed, Sarah must first get over the legal hurdle of proving that her dad was legally resident or 'domiciled' in the UK at the time of his death, with her claim liable to be struck out otherwise. The key question for Judge Ann Evans-Gordon to now decide is whether the English courts have 'jurisdiction' to deal with the claim, or whether it is an issue for authorities in Jamaica. Although Herbert Ducent died 18 years ago, the case brought by Sarah has been held up due to multiple factors, including delays in finding his original will and a previous UK court dispute which was settled on the basis that Herbert had not died intestate (without making a will). In the witness box, Rik was asked by Sarah's barrister, Oliver Ingham, about his father's life in both Jamaica and the UK and his relationship with Sarah, with Rik noting that Herbert had multiple business projects on the go during his lifetime. Quizzing him about the father-daughter relationship, the barrister suggested that Rik would have had little direct knowledge about what went on between the pair. But Rik insisted that he had lived with Sarah at times during his childhood in Jamaica and added: 'My father and I were quite close so we talked about Sarah'. 'It's not correct that after leaving Jamaica to come to the UK for college she was estranged from Herbert or that she cut off relations with him,' Mr Ingham put to him. 'That's what he told me,' insisted Rik, also claiming that the family friend with whom Sarah was lodging had called up Herbert to "complain to my father about her behaviour". 'On his next trip to the UK, he confronted her about it and an argument ensued,' said the singer. 'My father told me that she declared she wanted nothing more to do with him and he said 'are you sure that's what you want because if we're done we're done'.' Sarah, however, insists that she and her dad stayed close over the years, describing him outside court as a 'brilliant man' and saying: 'I reject the idea of any estrangement'. The 1975 Inheritance Act covering Sarah's claim would only apply if Herbert was 'domiciled' in the UK, but her barrister claimed there was solid evidence that Herbert, although Jamaica-born, wished to base himself in London, having built up strong family ties and business interests here. 'Sarah Ducent asserts that the deceased, her late father, was domiciled – or had acquired domicile by choice – in the United Kingdom at the time of his death in 2007,' he told the judge. 'Her position is that the deceased spent extended periods residing in the UK, becoming increasingly involved in UK-based business ventures and investments, having family in the UK and owning property in England. 'According to Sarah, Jamaica effectively became a secondary residence for the deceased, primarily visited for occasional business checks or leisure.' He said Herbert's death had been registered in the UK in 2007 only a year after he renewed his British passport, suggesting he had recognised the UK as his domicile. The delay of nearly 17 years in his family's claiming Jamaican domicile for Herbert suggested a "shift in their position motivated by the litigation itself." 'Sarah refutes the assertion that the deceased permanently abandoned the UK after suffering a stroke in 1997," he continued. 'In conclusion, the claimant respectfully invites the court to determine that, at the date of his death, the deceased had acquired and retained a domicile of choice in England and Wales. 'The evidence presented demonstrates that the deceased's substantial personal, financial and familial ties were anchored primarily in England and Wales at the material time.' But Dorothy's barrister, Jian Jun Liew, rebutted the idea that Herbert ever wanted to 'anchor' himself to the UK in his latter years, focusing on the fact that in 1983 he had moved his entire family back to Jamaica after spending 20 years in London working at various trades. 'The relocation of Herbert's entire family to Jamaica in 1983 was wholly consistent with the loss of any domicile of choice of England and Wales on the deceased's part and the acquisition of a domicile of choice in Jamaica,' he argued. After two days in court, the judge has reserved her decision in the case. In past interviews, Rik, who grew up in London and rural Jamaica, has explained how his love of music was sparked by hearing his parents sing, naming his dad as an inspiration and a 'big reggae fan'. He has said he never gets tired of playing 'It Wasn't Me', which brought about a major life change for him. 'I was finally able to silence the detractors who thought I was wasting my life on this music nonsense and I also made my parents very proud,' he told the Jamaica Observer in 2023. 'I was able to travel the world and see places it's doubtful I would've seen otherwise. 'Over two decades later, I still get recognised [and] can't count the number of pictures I've taken and autographs I've signed for the nicest strangers you could ever meet … It's allowed me to basically retire and focus entirely on raising my beautiful family. Eternally grateful for that.' Meanwhile his sister, Sarah, says she is now living in poverty in London and that any cash from her dad's estate could transform her life. The former civil servant, who is now struggling to get back to work, said outside court: 'I am hurt by the whole thing and I've lost my whole family. "My dad died, but on the day he died I didn't think I would end up being in the position I am today going through all this heartache. I don't have a step-mother any more. 'This money would make a great difference in my life, I am on the breadline right now.'
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- The Guardian
Women driven to unregulated sperm donors by high treatment costs, experts say
The high costs of having a child using a sperm donor are driving poor and marginalised women in the UK to use unregulated online services rife with 'weirdos' and misogynists in order to have a child, experts have said. In a ruling released on Wednesday, a Middlesbrough family court judge said a man who claimed to have fathered more than 180 children across the world as an unregistered sperm donor could not have custody of one of the children. The three-year-old girl from Durham is the fourth child in the UK that Robert Albon has used the courts to attempt to have contact with, despite initially telling the women he provided sperm to that he did not need to be involved in the child's life. Albon, a US national who goes by the name Joe Donor, had sex with the woman in 2021, the day she first contacted him on Facebook, after travelling 250 miles to her home. As part of the same family court case, he also attempted to have contact with a two-year-old girl he fathered with a different mother in the north-east a year later. Albon, 54, has also attempted to gain parental rights of a child born to a same-sex couple in Wales, one of whom described his involvement as a 'nightmare and a horror story'. In a court judgment released in February, a judge took the highly unusual step in the family court of naming Albon in the hopes of protecting women who might have sought his services. The case has brought into focus the problem of predatory men advertising themselves online as sperm donors. Many are looking for sex, to have control over women or have an obsession with producing offspring. Clare Ettinghausen, the director of strategy and corporate affairs at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UK's independent regulator of fertility treatment and research using human embryos, said: 'In all those cases, it's my job to ring huge alarm bells.' She advised women to go down the regulated route, though acknowledged for lots of women the cost of fertility treatment – something the HFEA has no involvement in – was prohibitive, while waiting times could be lengthy and there was a shortage of donors of particular ethnicities and religious backgrounds. Costs can run into tens of thousands of pounds. Registered donors are screened for health problems, including genetic diseases and STIs, as well as psychological issues. In the UK, donors are allowed to donate to only 10 families to reduce the risk of children meeting as adults and accidentally entering into incestuous relationships. Registered donors also do not have parental rights, are not required to pay child support and are contactable only by the child when they reach adulthood, with no obligation to respond. 'Overall we would really caution against [using donors found online] because of the things we see and hear,' Ettinghausen said. Dr Francesca Taylor-Phillips, a postdoctoral researcher at Leeds Beckett University whose research focuses on women and couples who choose unregulated sperm donors, said she had found cost was one of the main reasons women chose to go down the unregistered route. 'So because they couldn't afford the clinical treatment or because they weren't entitled to NHS funding,' she said. 'A lot of people do feel like they're pushed into it.' While heterosexual couples just need to tell their doctor they are struggling to conceive in order to get help, single women and those in same-sex relationships are usually required to have six cycles of intrauterine insemination, at a cost of about £3,000 each time, before they are entitled to any help from the NHS. Although some women believed there were 'significant benefits' of using an unregulated donor, such as being able to meet the person and decide together the level of knowledge and contact a child might have with them, women are forced to sift through problematic men and are left with no legal protection, said Taylor-Phillips. 'The main issues that we see are issues of dishonesty on the part of the donor when they're speaking online. So people catfishing people, or verbally abusing people online, or harassing for sex, is really quite common. Lots of people spoke about filtering through the weirdos online before they found the right donor. 'For the most part, those people were able to deal with that and move on. But it's still a horrible thing to have to go through when you're trying to have a child that's supposed to be this nice, beautiful thing, and it can become this sort of seedy thing.'
