High Court hears mother’s application for return of two children from Nigeria

The High Court Family Division has set out the background to a mother's application under the inherent jurisdiction for the summary return to England of two young children whom their father has kept in Nigeria.

In Re A & B (Summary return: Inherent jurisdiction: Nigeria) [2026] EWHC 1274 (Fam), Catherine Cowton KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, dealt with the final hearing of the mother's application. Judgment was handed down on 13 May 2026 after hearings on 24 April and 1 May 2026. The case is anonymised and the children are referred to as A (aged 6) and B (aged 5).

Background

The parents were married when the children were born, so both have parental responsibility under English law. The mother says the father flew with the children from England to Nigeria on 24 July 2025 without her consent, and that she had been their primary carer all their lives. She has not seen them since.

The father described the trip as a holiday, with return flights booked for 19 August 2025. He says he later obtained a job and decided to stay. The mother issued her application on 25 September 2025 (dated 23 September 2025). It asked for the children to be returned to the United Kingdom and for an order preventing their removal from the United Kingdom without her written consent.

The questions

The judge was asked whether the English court has jurisdiction to make orders about the children and, if so, whether the father should be ordered to return them to England so the mother could resume her role as primary carer or share their care.

The positions

The mother lives in England and says the children lived here until they were removed. The father says the family is Nigerian, that the children are settled in a family home and at school in Nigeria, and that it is in their best interests to live with him there. He challenges the English court's role in deciding the children's future and does not agree to return them.

Procedural history

At a first hearing on 30 October 2025, Julia Cheetham KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, recorded on a provisional basis that the children were habitually resident in England and Wales on the date of removal and when proceedings began. The order also recorded that they were wrongfully removed and that the courts of England and Wales had jurisdiction in matters of parental responsibility under Articles 5 and 7 of the 1996 Hague Convention. The children were made wards of the High Court during their minority.

The hearing

Both parents represented themselves; the father joined by video-link from Nigeria. Because this was an application for summary return, neither gave oral evidence, and the cases were set out in written statements and documents. The judge noted that there are no court proceedings in Nigeria and that no expert evidence about Nigerian law was provided. A full written judgment was provided so that the decision and reasons are clear to both parents and can be made available to future judges in both jurisdictions.

Sources

• A & B (Summary return: Inherent jurisdiction: Nigeria), Re [2026] EWHC 1274 (Fam), High Court (Family Division), 13 May 2026