The case related to a boy aged almost 5 at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. The parents were married and had joint rights of custody. During the course of the marriage the mother had suffered from severe depression and had made several suicide attempts.
The child had lived in Scotland, Germany and Switzerland. He was born in Scotland and lived there for 3 1/2 years before the family moved to Konstanz in Germany in May 1999. On 1 September 2000 the family moved to the adjoining town of Kreuzlingen; whilst essentially part of the same urban conurbation, the latter town was in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2000 the mother took the child to England and then to Scotland, her country of origin. On 4 May 2001 the Outer House of the Court of Session granted the father’s petition and ordered the return of the child. The mother appealed.
