A six-year-old girl has become the youngest child to have her views influence a court’s decision, in an international child abduction case.

In Re W (Children), the Court of Appeal last week refused a father permission to appeal against a High Court ruling which found that an eight-year-old and a six-year-old had reached such an age and level of maturity that it was appropriate to take account of their views.

The father had applied for permission to appeal the court’s decision to refuse his application for his three children aged eight, six and three to be returned to the Republic of Ireland under the Hague Convention, on the basis that the two older children objected.

The High Court found that the mother had wrongfully removed the children, and had failed to establish that the father had acquiesced to their removal, or that they would be at risk of grave physical or psychological harm if returned to the Republic of Ireland.

However, the court found the two older siblings displayed ‘visceral’ objections to being returned and had sufficient maturity for the judge to take account of their views.

Leading family lawyer Christina Blacklaws welcome the fact that the courts were paying ‘more than lip service’ to children’s views, but warned against giving them a ‘burdensome level of responsibility’.