A judge has written his verdict so that the children affected by the case can understand it.

Sitting in Lancashire County Court, Justice Peter Jackson said his judgment on whether four children should be taken out of care and returned to the custody of their mother had been made "as short as possible so that the mother and the older children can follow it".  He also used simple language to help them understand it.

Summarising the family's fractured history, Jackson highlighted the good times, writing, "H and A see their father and grandparents at the weekends and everyone enjoys that". He said, "Then N and R were born and everyone was happy about that".

Spelling out a complex sequence of events using short sentences, Jackson described how the older children's stepfather, named Mr A in proceedings, is not a very nice man. He said Mr A, "has a restless mind that moves from one subject to the next. He talks a lot, but is not interested in what other people think". After becoming a born-again Christian. Mr A accused the children's headteacher "of teaching the children witchcraft", which made her "very frightened by Mr A". Who then converted to Islam, and "now says that he is being persecuted because he is a Muslim". Jackson said, "That is nonsense",  explaining, "Mr A is not an ordinary believer. He is a bigot. A bigot is someone who doesn't tolerate people of different views, races or religions. Mr A uses religion as an excuse to treat other people with contempt".

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Jackson said, "The children were told they were going to Euro Disney, which was exciting", but Mr A "never had any intention of going to Euro Disney and it was unkind to H and A to have promised it to them". Instead Mr A attempted to take them to Syria. Which, to be fair, would also have been exciting.

In a section which reads like Famous Five Uncover a Jihad, Jackson assessed whether the children's mother was aware of Mr A's plan:



Giving his child-friendly judgment the happy ending it deserves, Jackson ruled that the children should live with their mother, and that Mr A could not have any contact with his step-children and only limited, indirect contact with his children. Which is now unavoidable, because Mr A has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for firearms offences. The End.
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Comments

Anonymous 16 September 16 16:15

After all that it sounds like these children have been exposed to, I cannot help but feel impressed that the judge went to this level to help the children and involve them in his decision. Good luck to them!