R v P (Appeal: Dismissal of Private Law Proceedings at Directions Hearing)

Facts

The parties are the parents of a girl, G, now nearly 8, born during a relationship which lasted from 2014 until separation in 2023; they married and are now divorced. The father, an Indian national first granted leave to remain in 2016, applied on 10 January 2024 for a child arrangements order to spend time with G. The mother, a UK national with significant physical and mental ill health, made allegations of domestic abuse. A Cafcass report under section 7 of the Children Act 1989, completed on 23 July 2024, recommended supported and then community contact and advised that no fact-finding hearing was needed; the mother's complaint about that report was upheld in significant respects and a fact-finding hearing was directed. HHJ Williscroft heard the matter over five days at the end of January 2026 and found several allegations of coercive and controlling behaviour proved, while rejecting the mother's case that the father had married her solely for immigration status and had no genuine interest in G. At a one-hour directions hearing on 18 March 2026 the judge terminated the father's application, ordered indirect contact six times a year managed by the maternal grandmother, and imposed a restriction under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 for 24 months. The father appealed.