A Final HEaring?

So, the report from Dr Mattai was a serious problem for me. Right at the very beginning of this court case my solicitor said to me something that always stuck with me and something he was always watching out for……”anxiety, we don’t want to see or hear those words”.

He effectively told me that whilst Sarah was clearly being obstructive the fact Sonny was now at the age he was and part of the proceedings, CAFCASS will get very concerned about pushing for contact if there was a Doctor’s report that said he was either stressed or anxious about seeing his Dad.

This card was now in play and my solicitor was concerned as I was too.

We had a hearing that was due on the back of these reports where they were to be presented at court and argued by both sides.

Jacqui Knott from CAFCASS was now very quiet and not contactable, I knew she was about to crumble and put up the white flag as she was never going to go against a medical professional.  

Whilst she wasn’t able to prove any anxiety or stress that Sonny was claiming the fact she had documented his words put me in the shitter.

By this point Sonny had a guardian representative via CAFCASS called Tessa Dunleavy. A practicing litigator in family law, she had been brought in to represent Sonny in any meetings between mine and Sarah’s lawyers. Did she offer any value in respect of Sonny’s long term best interest – Nope, she was just someone else picking up money as part of the scourge that is the family law courts.

Don’t get me wrong, kids need to be protected. Kids need to be protected from bad Mum’s, bad Dad’s and anyone else that is a danger to kids.

Children deserve to be protected and should be protected but in my case no one, not the judge, not Jaqui Knott, not Tessa Dunleavey, not Dr. Mattai, not Dr Ward had to guts to stand up and say – “you do see what’s happening here, Sarah and and her mother and women scorned and Sonny and his Dad are in the cross fire”.

Not once did any of them have the guts to stand up and say that I was a Dad who loved Sonny and this was the second time I’d had to take Sarah to court to force her to allow me to see Sonny. Not once did they have the guts to say Sonny’s Dad hasn’t done anything wrong other than wanting to see his son. This is his second court application and this is the second time Sarah has actively supported no contact. This is Parental Alienation 101.

No, none of them did, all they did was take the money and play the system just like Sarah did. Collectively upto this point I’d spent over 4 years in the courts battling Sarah. What Dad who doesn’t give a shit about his son does that?

We had a court hearing further to this report on the 19/09/2026. My solitor wasn’t actually able to make it that day so he sent his colleague who was a good guy and knew the score.

Basically at this hearing I was screwed – what CAFCASS had recommend was indirect contact  (i.e. not in  person, via text or email) and Sonny wasn’t obliged to respond. This was what I was being told I could expect.

After years of being in court again, thousands of pounds spent, the constant waiting and waiting and waiting to then be told all you can expect from the court is basically what I already have – I send a message to Sonny and he doesn’t respond.

A complete and utter waste of time and hope.

Jonathon who was standing in for my lawyer joined me staring out of the window over a grimey Centerfield and he just uttered the words…”I know Chris…. I know” he knew this was the end and he knew it just wasn’t’ right after everything I had done to be with Sonny.

This was all happening before the hearing; we still hadn’t had the hearing. Jonathon advised that if I wanted to I could take this to a final hearing. This meant I could instruct Barristers and Sarah would have been put in the stand and cross examined, it would have been a free for all. I’d finally have my chance for Sarah to be torn to pieces on the stand by someone that was in my corner with the gloves off…that appealed to me. However, the reality was the judge was not going to override CAFCASS and they were suggesting indirect contact and the judge was never going to go against CAFCASS. So even though I would have got my clichéd “day in court” it would have been futile. All I would have achieved was Sarah getting destroyed.

Whilst that was appealing I wouldn’t  have brought Sonny any closer to us. So before I made my way into court for hearing, I’d made my decision.

When we walked into the court room for some bizarre reason the court usher sat me an Sarah next to each.

Usually we would sit next to our lawyers or directly behind them.

Bizarrely I found myself sat within a whisker or Sarah, the woman who had caused all these problems, the woman to had spent thousands of pounds fighting me in courts to stop Sonny having a relationship with his Dad.

Obviously, the polite and professional way would have been to sit there next to her and listen to her pathetic grifting lawyer Vanessa Fox plead with the Judge as to why Sony was better off without his Dad. Sit there and listen and contain myself from uttering a word to Sarah who was sat next to me, shaking.

That maybe would have been the professional thing to have done – but by this point I was finished, I leaned over to Sarah and whispered into her ear the following “…………………………………………………….”

It was an opportunity not to be missed, maybe the court usher new this was my time to get a few things off my chest but either way Sarah knew exactly what I thought of her as a Mother,  in case she didn’t already know.

When we came out of the court room Sarah ran straight to her lawyer Vanessa Fox who then had her own hissy fit and came running to my lawyer to tell tales.

He turned to me and took me to one to side and said with a smile, his exact words were - “I understand Chris, there’s only so much a man can take”…..I had no idea what he was talking about.

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