[2025] EWHC 2637 (Fam)

MW is, in his words, a ‘very close’ friend of the father. The father took A to stay with him in the aftermath of the abduction and remained living at his home for some four months before coming to England.

I am not prepared to give any weight to MW’s evidence about the things he claims that A said either to him or in his presence. His evidence is inconsistent with the more recent and reliable evidence about things A has been saying to her foster carer and about the observed quality of the relationship she has with her mother. In my judgement, MW has either lied to the court at the behest of the father or alternatively he has recorded things A may have said devoid of the crucial context that the father was in the process of coaching her to make false allegations against her mother.