Council social services fail to prove woman breached court-ordered contact with son

Council social services bosses have failed to prove that a woman deliberately breached a judge’s order restricting her contact with her teenage son.

Lawyers representing Westminster City Council complained that the woman had breached the order by attending a parents’ evening at his school.

But a judge on Monday concluded that she was not in contempt of court.

Mr Justice Hayden said a letter appearing to invite all parents had mistakenly been given to the woman.

He analysed the case at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The judge said the woman could not be named in media reports of the hearing – for now.

He said naming the woman would reveal the identity of her son, who is approaching his 18th birthday, and he wanted to consider further evidence before making a final ruling on the issue.

Detail of the case emerged in 2017.

Mr Justice Hayden had criticised the boy’s parents in a ruling, after being asked to make decisions about his welfare at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London, and subsequently made orders placing limits on his mother’s contact.

He said the teenager, who no longer lived with his parents, was sick.

But the judge said the boy had been robbed of much of his childhood as a result of his parents exaggerating his symptoms.

The teenager’s mother had made him think he was dying, said Mr Justice Hayden, and her “bullying and bombastic” behaviour led to medics treating the youngster becoming intimidated.

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