Mother jailed for posting family court litigation on Facebook freed early after apology

By Brian Farmer29th March 2019News EnglandChild Protection, Childrens Services, Courts / Justice, Kent, Local Authorities, Looked After Children, News England, Social Media

A woman given a nine-month prison term as a result of posting information relating to family court litigation on Facebook has been released from jail early after apologising.

Sara Root, who believes her children were unfairly taken from her, had published information about them in breach of judges’ orders.

Social services bosses at Medway Council (pictured), who have welfare responsibility for the children and are based in Chatham, Kent, had complained about her posts.

Mrs Justice Theis had jailed Ms Root in early March, after concluding that she had breached orders and was in contempt of court, at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

But Ms Root, who is in her 50s, was freed on Friday after returning to court and apologising to the judge.

She said prison was “hell on Earth” and promised not to breach orders again.

Mrs Justice Theis was told that Ms Root had removed offending material from the internet.

The judge said she was satisfied that Ms Root had “purged” her contempt and should be freed.

Ms Root, who lives on the outskirts of London, had previously been penalised for breaching orders limiting the publication of information about family court proceedings involving her children.

In August 2017, Judge Richard Polden handed Ms Root a suspended six-month jail term after concluding that she had wrongly published material on Facebook.

Then in May 2018, Mrs Justice Theis ruled that she again wrongly published information on Facebook and handed her another suspended six-month prison sentence.

Mrs Justice Theis said Ms Root’s children could not be identified in media reports of the case.