EM (A Child : return order)

MR NICHOLAS CUSWORTH QC Sitting in the High Court Family Division ____________________

Clare Renton represented the Applicant Robin Powell represented the Respondent ____________________

'�that there is no need for the article to be "narrowly construed". By its very terms, it is of restricted application. The words of article 13 are quite plain and need no further elaboration or "gloss".'

'33. � the risk to the child must be "grave". It is not enough, as it is in other contexts such as asylum, that the risk be "real". It must have reached such a level of seriousness as to be characterised as "grave". Although "grave" characterises the risk rather than the harm, there is in ordinary language a link between the two. Thus a relatively low risk of death or really serious injury might properly be qualified as "grave" while a higher level of risk might be required for other less serious forms of harm.