FD24P00235 - [2025] EWHC 952 (Fam)

For the reasons set out above, and standing back from the case to consider the whole picture and asking myself the ultimate question of whether that which is alleged is more likely than not to be true, I decline to make the findings sought by the mother. I am further satisfied on the evidence that the following findings are established on the balance of probabilities, comprising those findings sought by the father, together with a number of additional findings made by the court:

It is plain from the matters set out above that the mother has engaged in a deliberate and extensive programme of fabrication and embellishment in these proceedings. That programme has extended to the mother’s interaction with US law enforcement agencies, the UK Border Force and the Home Office. I am satisfied that the mother will say whatever she believes will assist her in achieving the end she is aiming for, even if that means serially misleading the court, law enforcement bodies and the immigration authorities.

Of particular concern is the fact that, as I find, the mother has fabricated allegations of sexual abuse of P and Q and, thereafter, appears to have either directly or indirectly, influenced P to make statements regarding sexual abuse by persuading or allowing P to believe she has been sexually abused by her father. I consider that there are reasonable grounds for believing that both children have been, and remain, at risk of being caused significant emotional harm by the mother’s conduct.

In August 2023, following a strategy discussion, all relevant agencies agreed that threshold for a s.47 child protection investigation had been met. The subsequent investigation identified a number of risks pertaining to the physical, emotional and sexual abuse suffered by the mother and children at the hands of their father and the significant instability caused to them as a result of having to re-locate repeatedly consequent thereon. In circumstances where I am satisfied that the local authority has been proceeding, and continues to proceed, on the false factual premise provided by the mother, I shall direct that a copy of this judgment be disclosed as a matter of urgency by the Children’s Guardian to the local authority that currently has safeguarding responsibilities in respect of the children under Part III of the Children Act 1989. At the next hearing, to which the local authority will be invited, I will hear submissions as to whether this court should now make an order under s.37 of the Children Act 1989.

A copy of the judgment should also be disclosed to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. Given the extent of the lies I am satisfied that the mother has told the court, at the next hearing I will hear submissions as to whether a copy of the judgment setting out the court’s findings should also be disclosed to the Attorney General, in order that he can consider whether proceedings for perjury should now be considered.

I will invite leading and junior counsel to draw an order accordingly.

The mother has lied to the court about not having a Bangladeshi passport and not being a Bangladeshi national.

The mother sought to mislead the court about the circumstances in which the parents met and were married. The parties met for the first time and were married in London, before undergoing a civil ceremony in Bolivia.

The mother moved to the United States from Bolivia on a spousal visa contained in her Bangladeshi passport, travelling via the United Kingdom in order to visit her family before P’s birth.

The alternative account the mother gave to the court of her move to the United States is not true. The mother has fabricated her account of being forced to carry drugs for the father that were then stolen at Miami International Airport by a rival gang.

The mother has fabricated her account of the father being a member of MS13 or other criminal gang, including her implication, by way of the provision of an article, that the FBI had “created a task force” in response to her allegations about MS13 and her account of the father throwing a corpse to alligators in Key West.

The allegations of domestic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour and rape and sexual assault in Florida made by the mother against the father have been either fabricated or substantially embellished.

The mother has fabricated her account of not being permitted by the father to have an identity card, to work and to leave the house in Bolivia and in Florida.

The mother has fabricated her allegations of repeated domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour by the father in Miami between 2012 and 2017.

The mother has fabricated her account that the father assaulted her on 25/26 April 2017 and attempted to anally rape Q on the morning of 26 April 2017.

The mother moved back into the paternal grandmother’s home with the father almost immediately after making allegations against him on 26 April 2017 and remained living with the father and the children at the paternal grandmother’s for seven months.

The mother has fabricated her account of fleeing from Florida to Colorado in order to escape the father. The parents and children moved together to Colorado with their belongings, the parents having taken the joint decision to move to a new State.

The mother has lied about the father having no contact with the children between 2017 and 2020. The parents and the children lived together as a family in Colorado between 2017 and 2020 save when the father was working away.

The mother has lied about not using the 5678 number and not sending the messages from that number to the father during the period 2017 to 2020.

The mother has fabricated her account that the father attended the family home in Colorado uninvited on 23 June 2020 and assaulted her and attempted to vaginally rape P on 24 June 2020.

The mother has lied to the court about there having been a number of occasions when she has encountered ongoing threats and stalking behaviour from criminal associates of the father. The mother has fabricated her claim that an employee of the asylum hotel where the alleged knife attack occurred was stabbed by a member of MS13 and that the Metropolitan Police Service are investigating the incident.

The mother has engaged in alienating behaviours in an effort to estrange the children from the father, in the form of (a) making false allegations, (b) removing the children from the jurisdiction of the United States and (c) obstructing the children’s relationship with the father between 2020 and now.