The proceedings related to a child born in December 2009. In the six months prior to the birth, the parents, who had married in June 2008, had been living apart, the father in France, the mother in England. The parents’ relationship was described as fluctuating. The father did make two visits to England and attended the birth.
In late January 2010 the mother took the child to Paris. On 23 March she secretly took the child back to England, where she issued substantive custody proceeding, in which she asserted a fear that the father would remove the child to Algeria.
The father’s return application was dismissed by the High Court, on the basis that the child was not habitually resident in France on 23 March. The father sought permission to appeal against this decision.
