James Cleary (for the mother) and Sam Coe (for the child) have appeared in an appeal at the High Court in London (published as The Mother v The Father and Anor [2024] EWHC 272 (Fam)).

The appeal was based around the decision of a Circuit Judge to direct that a child should have contact with her father, against the views of the children’s guardian and without hearing arguments on the point. The High Court agreed that the decision should not have been made and that it was a ‘serious procedural irregularity which amounted to an injustice‘.