Background
6.I have summarised the background which is pertinent to the issues in this case.7.The father was born in Z and is now 44 years old. He reports that his parents are dead and he has 12 siblings, most of whom continue to live in Z. Two of his brothers live in the UK, another brother lives in Germany and another brother lives in Italy. The father left Z and came to the UK where he claimed asylum though this claim was initially refused.8.According to GH, she met the father on the internet when she was aged about 16 or 17. They began a relationship and GH fell pregnant quickly. P was born when she was 18 years old. GH converted to Islam and changed her name, adopting the father’s surname. The couple married in December 2008. The birth of P and his marriage to GH enabled the father to seek fresh consideration of his claim for asylum on the basis of his right to a family life pursuant to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The father and GH lived together until 2010 when they separated, subsequently divorcing in 2011. The father left P with his mother and appears to have had no contact with him until summer 2014, having moved some distance away from where both P and GH lived. 9.Sadly, GH had huge problems caring for P and he was the subject of a child protection plan from June 2012 onwards. In November 2013, P was removed from his mother’s care, having experienced significant physical and emotional neglect, and was placed with his maternal grandmother. In March 2014, P was then placed in foster care as his maternal grandmother was seriously ill. She died in August 2014. By that time, the local authority then involved with P had decided that P could not return to his mother’s care. Coincidentally, the father contacted the local authority at that time to ask about P and was subsequently assessed to care for P himself.10.In the meantime, the father had remarried. The mother was born and raised in Z and married the father there in August 2012. Q was born there and in September 2013, the family moved to the UK. I note that by this time the father had been granted asylum so that the mother entered the UK on a spousal visa.11.The local authority’s assessment of the father as a carer for P was positive and in January 2015, P was permitted to live with his father and the mother. P’s contact with GH was to be letterbox only and monitored by the local authority. It appears that very little, if any, contact between P and his mother took place once he began to live with his father. By April 2015, P was considered to be happy and settled in his father’s home and there were no concerns for his welfare.12.In 2016, the mother gave birth to R. Prior to the father’s arrest, the family were not known to the local authority with respect to child welfare. I also record that, in May 2015, GH gave birth to Y, a half-sister to P. Y was placed with foster carers immediately after her birth and placed for adoption in June 2016.13.Though the family were not known to the local authority, this was not a happy home. The sentencing judge was sure that the father had been violent to the mother, as P described in his evidence for the criminal trial, by slapping her on occasions with an open hand and pulling her hair so that this treatment made her cut it short. The mother had contemplated taking her own life and she said in notes made prior to her death that the father had frequently threatened to kill her. The sentencing judge was sure the father had indeed made those threats. It appears that the day before the mother was murdered, the mother and the father had a significant argument in the family home which was witnessed by the children. I note that, since about August 2021, P, Q and R have spoken to their carers, and to social workers about both the abusive relationship between the mother and the father and their own experience of threatened and actual violence at the hands of both the mother and the father.14.On a date in early 2020, the father murdered the mother and disposed of her body with assistance from two of his brothers. On the following day, the father told the police that the mother had gone missing and told P to tell the police that she had gone out jogging and had never returned. On 4 April 2020, the father was arrested on suspicion of the mother’s murder and the children were placed in police protection that same day. On 6 April 2020, the children were removed to another foster home where they remained until August 2021. That placement broke down following the children reporting misconduct by the foster carers. Fortunately, the children’s respite placement became their present placement. 15.The father was charged with murder on 8 April 2020 and remanded in custody. Owing to media reporting, the children were informed by their social worker on 14 April 2020 that the police believed the mother had died. The children received bereavement counselling though this ceased at the children’s request. On 18 May 2020, the father pleaded not guilty and the criminal trial was fixed to start on 16 March 2021. In late 2020, the mother’s body was found and that discovery, together with the forensic testing which followed, substantially delayed the criminal trial. In August 2021, P and his siblings began to talk about events in the family home both prior to and after the mother’s disappearance. P was interviewed by the police and gave a statement about what his father had asked him to do following the mother’s disappearance. At the criminal trial, P gave oral evidence and was cross-examined on behalf of the father.16.The father maintained his not guilty plea at the criminal trial but did not give evidence in his own defence. Both he and his two brothers were convicted unanimously by the jury. In his sentencing remarks, the judge stated that he was sure the father intended to kill the mother because (a) he had covered up what he had done; (b) he had made previous threats to kill the mother; and (c) he lacked any true remorse for what he had done. The judge noted that the father had given no explanation accounting for the mother’s disappearance and had told the author of a pre-sentence report that he did not think the mother was dead and that the body which had been found was not that of the mother. The sentencing judge identified a variety of aggravating features, one of which was taking advantage of P by asking him to say something which was untrue. Additionally, the father had laid a false trail by sending messages from the mother’s phone to his own and taking money from her bank account in an attempt to suggest that she was still alive. The false trail included the father taking the children on a trip, saying that he was looking for the mother. The mother’s murder was also aggravated by the domestic context in that she was killed by the husband who was supposed to protect her and had been subjected to domestic violence and threats. Her body had been interred in a deep grave by the father and his brothers in order to avoid its discovery. Finally, there was clear evidence of attempts to conceal communication with the father’s family abroad at about the time the mother was killed and her body disposed of.17.To date the father has not appealed his conviction or sentence though I understand he intends to do so. In his final evidence within the care proceedings, the father rejected the jury’s verdict and repeated his denial of responsibility for the mother’s death. He asserted that, if the mother was still alive or if she had been killed, this would be the responsibility of her family. In effect, he also called P a liar.18.The care proceedings have been much delayed by the need to await the outcome of the criminal trial. On 14 July 2020, Mr Justice Keehan determined that any fact-finding in the family proceedings should take place after the outcome of the criminal trial. I note that the father has had no direct contact with the children since he was arrested and the local authority have had permission to refuse contact between him and the children since September 2021. I listed a final hearing on 28 March 2022 and, on 20 May 2022, reduced the time estimate in the light of the father’s conviction. The final hearing took place remotely so that the father could attend from prison.19.On 5 October 2022, the first day of the final hearing, the father was without legal representation, having parted company the previous day with both counsel and his instructing solicitors. He told me that he had instructed new solicitors to mount an appeal against his conviction and to represent him in these proceedings. I directed their attendance on the following day. On 6 October 2022, a representative from the new solicitors instructed by the father attended before me and was able to confirm that the father could be represented at a final hearing relisted on 19 and 21 October 2022. I adjourned the proceedings to that date and made clear to the father that there would be no further adjournment of these proceedings if he once more parted company with his new legal team. The hearing was comfortably accommodated on 19 October 2022 without the need for further attendance on 21 October 2022.