Martha Gray in A (A Child) (Application for Return From Ghana) [2026] EWHC 627 (Fam)
26th Mar 2026 | Cases
Martha Gray, led by Charles Hale KC of 4 Paper Buildings, was instructed by Goodman Ray Solicitors on behalf of the first respondent mother in A (A Child) (Application for Return From Ghana) [2026] EWHC 627 (Fam); an application by father for an order that child (A) be returned from Ghana.
The court had to decide whether nine-year-old A, who was wrongfully taken to Ghana by her mother in 2021 and left there, should remain in Ghana or return to England to live with her father. The case was finely balanced. The judge found that both parents loved A, but both had significant shortcomings. The court noted concerns that the mother had not always been fully transparent, had reduced the father’s involvement, and appeared to have limited appreciation of the impact on A of her move to Ghana and the disruption to her relationship with her father. The father, although deeply committed to A, had been untruthful about his cannabis use, which raised serious concerns about his reliability and ability safely to meet A’s needs. The father was also in poor health.
Although the court accepted that A had suffered emotional harm and that living in Ghana carried risks for her relationship with her father, the judge concluded that the balance fell in favour of A remaining in Ghana with her mother, supported by a detailed contact regime to preserve her relationship with her father.
