Minor

The mother had brought her children to the UK from Ireland and the father had issued proceedings for their return under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980. The judge, having noted the children’s desire not to return to Ireland, was not satisfied that the children’s views could properly have been said to have amounted to a clear objection in Convention terms. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the appeal, held that the gateway stage should be confined to a straightforward and fairly robust examination of whether the simple terms of the Convention were satisfied, in that the child objected to being returned, and had attained an age and degree of maturity at which it was appropriate to take account of his views. In particular, the approach to the gateway stage set out in Re T (abduction: child’s objections to return) [2000] 2 FCR 159 should