Martyn Judd’s Story – My fight for my daughter Martyn and Elizabeth JuddMy ex-wife and I split in 2010, only a few months after the birth of my daughter, Elizabeth. We were living in Russia at the time (she is Russian) and I returned here, to the UK, for a number of reasons, both medical and financial. We always stayed in touch, I paid maintenance, I visited often and we skyped regularly. In 2012, my ex-wife and daughter came to the UK for a 6-week break and for her to study in London and for us to explore the idea of them both coming to live in England; we had always planned for Elizabeth to come and live with me when she was of school age. 2-weeks after returning to Russia, they came back to England, this time to settle permanently. She sold everything in Russia and closed her business. After a couple of months in the UK, she wanted to take my daughter to live with a new boyfriend she had just met ‘somewhere in London’. Not surprisingly, I was against it, as was my family – in fact, it was my mother who tried to intervene most ardently. Cue argument, cue ex-wife trying to pack my daughter’s bags to return to Russia with the words, “you’ll never see her again” in my ears. I took out a prohibitive steps order, on the basis that we had collectively decided that England was best for our daughter on so many different levels. It ended up in the High Court and – after my ex went to the Russian embassy – she turned up with a pro bono barrister. At the directions hearing Justice Jackson tried to barrel roll through to judgement. We eventually went back to the High Court with Mrs Justice Pauffley who, a few days later, issued a judgement that left my legal team and myself physically speechless. Having directed my ex to tell the truth, she caught her lying and then allowed her legal team to submit my stolen private medical records from Russia. She also allowed an accusation of physical violence that the police had dismissed out of hand just 72-hours earlier, attacked my barrister on many occasions, smothered praise on her pro bono and then wrote a judgement writing me out of my daughter’s life. My ex-wife picked up my daughter two days after the case ended, she left for Russia the next day, then two days later demanded £6000 or I would not see my daughter again. I have not spoken to, or seen, my daughter since 27th November 2012. I believe that the Court was illogically biased against me as a man and a British man. I believe that Pauffley abused her powers to get something politically uncomfortable off the table and also because of an illogical anti-male feeling, which comes across clearly in the judgement. Now every day I wake up and remember to breathe and sometimes that is as good as it gets. Other days, I get on with trying to be the kind of man Elizabeth will be proud to call Dad one day, knowing that we will see each other again. Every day, I think about her and wonder what she is doing and if she remembers me. I recently thought about what I could do to highlight my case and those of others like me, especially when the family courts operate in complete secrecy. I wanted to highlight the failings of a system that pretends to act in the child’s best interests whilst cruelly separating them from their fathers. HILTON PROTEST HEADERCafcass (the court welfare service) were holding a conference at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on 9th August where they were cynically using children to prevent criticism of their organisation – an organisation which has been repeatedly condemned by Oftsed. Tens of thousands of children like Children4Justice founder Rosy Stanesby have been denied a voice or an apology from Cafcass and these children were shamefully excluded from the conference because of their views. I decided words were not enough, that I needed to act; that I needed to make the injustice visible. When I climbed over the railings of the hotel balcony and was hanging fifty feet in the air, everything came welling up. All of the emotion of the last 268-days without my daughter put me very close to the edge. Maybe it sounds ridiculous, but I was genuinely thinking that maybe this was the only way to get Elizabeth’s story into the newspapers. In the end, I wiped away the tears that were streaming down my face and decided that it was not the right way. Every day, her memories of me are fading… I write to Elizabeth in my online journal (martynjudd.blogspot.co.uk/) and am putting together a website for her to find when she’s older (dearelizabeth.co.uk/) and I hope that it will be enough.” People often ask me why don’t I go to court in Russia. How can I? It is a dictatorial regime, often with little regard for the rights of its own people let alone the people of other nations. I think it would be pointless and I may as well save that money in Elizabeth’s trust fund. The Russian legal system is complicated and, for a foreigner, expensive, long-winded and incredibly biased. My ex-wife is not the kind to obey a court order and, in any case, my ex father-in-law’s business partner and close friend is the deputy prosecutor of the city in which they live. But whatever happens, I will do anything to see my daughter again, even if that means going to prison. Martyn Judd Photo Photo
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 15:52:24 +0000
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