Supreme Court grant permission to appeal in abduction case.

The UK Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal in a case involving the grave risk of harm defence under Article 13b of the 1980 Hague Convention. The main point in the appeal involves a challenge to the way the Court of Appeal approached the question of harm to a child arising out of the likely impact on a mother's mental health where the impact would be caused not by an objective risk to the mother and child but because of her subjective fear of risk. In Re E (UKSC May 2011) the court appeared to approve of the proposition that the source of the harm was irrelevant if in fact it was likely to cause harm to the child but the Court of Appeal judgment suggests that the risk of harm must be objectively a real one. James Turner QC and Geraldine More O'Farrell instructed by Rosleys are for the Appellant and Nic Anderson instructed by Philippa Morgan at Lyons Davidson for the Respondent.
The hearing is listed for 20th February 2012.