TK v SD

Facts

The applicant mother and the respondent father, first cousins who married in Kenya in 2009, have five sons aged 15, 14, 11, 9 and 4, all UK citizens who also acquired Kenyan citizenship by descent. The family lived variously in England, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and moved to Kenya in September 2022 intending to settle permanently, returning to England after six months. From early 2023 until July 2025 they lived in London, where the four older boys attended school. On 14 July 2025 the family flew to Kenya on one-way tickets with eight or nine suitcases, arriving in Mombasa the following day. The mother's case was that this was a six-week holiday and that the father wrongfully retained the boys in Kenya from late August 2025, as part of a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour; the father's case was that the move was a permanent relocation, discussed, planned and agreed. The mother left the family home in Mombasa on 9 November 2025 and returned to England later that month, after her passport was cancelled and an application made to renounce her British citizenship. On 20 January 2026 she applied to the High Court for an order returning the boys to England, the father disputing jurisdiction. The application was heard over three days in August 2026.