A legal battle is underway after a mother took her 11-year-old son from London to the island of Paros without her estranged husband’s permission.
Details emerged from a private hearing on Friday published by a judge overseeing family court litigation in London, where the judge published that both the estranged parents are Greek, however had lived in London for more than two years.
The mother’s decision to take her son to the Greek island on 20 March was because she thought he would be less at risk of contracting coronavirus. She left three days before British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown and travelled to her mother’s home on the island in the belief that Greece had a lower infection rate than the UK.
Justice Mostyn wrote in his report that her judging of coronavirus risks may be “valid”.
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“However that does not justify in the slightest what was a wrongful removal of (the boy) from the place of his habitual residence and, more importantly, from his father,” the judge wrote.
The father received notification of the boy’s transport to Paros after the woman emailed his lawyers to explain why she left. The email stated that she did not intend to stay in Greece permanently. “‘The main reason that I have come to Greece is that I am very afraid of the coronavirus and I want to do whatever I can to keep (my won and me) safe from it,'” she said, adding that the small Greek island where her mother lives is naturally isolated from the mainland and has access to medical facilities.
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The island had zero cases of coronavirus and the woman believed it was a safer option than London.
The judge has adjourned the London litigation so that a judge in Greece should hear evidence from the woman before making decisions.
