A Local Authority v AZ & Ors

This judgment was delivered in private. The judge has given leave for this version of the judgment to be published on condition that (irrespective of what is contained in the judgment) in any published version of the judgment the anonymity of the children and members of their family must be strictly preserved. All persons, including representatives of the media and legal bloggers, must ensure that this condition is strictly complied with. Failure to do so may be a contempt of court.

The Court is concerned with the welfare of DZ aged 16 years, FX aged 15 years, and CX aged 2 years. The mother of the children is AZ (“Mother”), and the father of the children is BX (“Father”). The Father shares parental responsibility for all of the children.

The principal issue is that DZ has made very serious allegations against the Father, including that he had sexually abused her on numerous occasions. However she subsequently withdrew those allegations. The Local Authority (“LA”) asserts that the allegations were true, and they form the basis of the Threshold statement.

I held a joint fact finding and welfare hearing on 31 July – 4 August 2023. In practice it has proved impossible to finalise welfare decisions for reasons that will become obvious below.

The family originates from India. The parents married in February 2003 when the Mother was aged 18 years old. The parents also have an older child, GX, who is currently aged 18 years and is living in the family home with his mother and brothers.