S (Wardship: Summary return: non-Convention country)

Hassan Khan (instructed by Brethertons) for the Applicant, mother Charlotte Hartley (instructed by TM Fortis) for the Respondent, father (at the hearing) Nicholas Anderson for the father (for judgment) Hearing date: 27 January 2015 ____________________

• The welfare of the children is paramount. If a decision is made to return the child it must be because it is in his best interests to do so not because the welfare principle has been superseded by some other consideration.

• The specialist rules and concepts of the Hague Convention are not to be applied by analogy in a non Convention case.

• The court has the power, in accordance with the welfare principle, to order the immediate return of a child to a foreign jurisdiction without conducting a full investigation of the merits.

• 'Kidnapping' or abduction, in common with other forms of unilateral action in relation to children is to be strongly discouraged, but the discouragement must take the form of a "swift, realistic and unsentimental assessment of the best interests of the child, leading in proper cases to the return of the child to his or her own country, but not the sacrifice of the child's welfare to some other principle of law".