F v M (Disclosure to the First Tier Tribunal)

Facts

D is an eight year old boy whose mother brought him to England from a Caribbean country, referred to as country H, on 16 March 2024 without his father's knowledge or consent, shortly after the family court in country H had ordered that contact between D and his father resume. The father, born in a South American country, K, and now living in the USA, applied under Article 21 of the Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction for arrangements securing his rights of access to D. The mother and D also claimed asylum, the mother alleging that the father had attacked her with a knife, had joined an unnamed and powerful group in country H, that D had been sexually assaulted while in the father's care, that the father had threatened to shoot her, and that she feared being killed on return. The Secretary of State refused the claims on 30 April 2025 and the mother appealed to the First Tier Tribunal on 13 May 2025; that appeal has yet to be heard. In the family proceedings, begun in May 2025, the court held a five day fact-finding hearing in January 2026 and, on 9 February 2026, rejected both of the mother's allegations against the father while finding most of his counter-allegations of alienating behaviour proved. The father, encouraged by D's guardian, then applied for disclosure of that judgment to the Tribunal and the immigration authorities.