Jyoti Wood, led by Teertha Gupta KC and instructed by Carolina Marín Pedreño and Sacha Lee of Dawson Cornwell, successfully represented the Respondent father in the Court of Appeal in the case of A (A Child: Article 13(b): Mental Health) [2026] EWCA Civ 1090.

This appeal concerned the Hague 1980 Child Abduction Convention and considered the role of mental health and psychiatric evidence when a defence under Article 13(b) is raised to resist summary return of an abducted child.

The issue in the appeal was the extent to which a parent’s mental ill health- or a risk of deterioration in their mental health in the future- could establish a grave risk of harm to the child or place the child in an intolerable situation so as to justify refusal of a return order.

The court's consideration of the ambit of Article13(b), psychiatric evidence relating to the mother's mental health and the efficacy of protective measures make this an important decision for practitioners dealing with mental health arguments in international child abduction cases. The full Judgment, delivered by Lord Justice Moylan, can be found below.