AAL Bizarre: Father bugs daughter’s clothing in custody battle

Jun 01, 2016

Written By Jack J Collins, Editor, AllAboutLaw.co.uk

A custody battle for a young girl turned slightly creepy earlier this month when it was found that her father had sewn listening devices into his daughter’s clothing to listen in to conversations she had with social workers.

The dispute began over the girl, who had been living with her father, in 2014. Her mother also wanted custody and the case was handed over to Mr Justice Peter Jackson as part of the London high court’s family division.

He stated that: “The proceedings ran for 18 months and during that time there were a number of meetings between [the daughter] and her social worker, a family support worker and the guardian.

“Unfortunately, the father and his [new] partner were determined to know what the child was saying at these meetings and also to record what the professionals were saying.”

What occurred then was the questionable part. Having bought listening devices off the internet, the father’s partner sewed them into a false bottom of a pocket on the daughter’s blazer and would record all day.

“She was therefore recorded at school, when with her teachers and friends, and at the contact centre when she went to meet her mother or speak to her on FaceTime,” the judge added.

“Recordings were also made at home, when the social workers and guardian visited. At the end of the day, the bug would be removed from the clothing so the contents could be downloaded.

Ultimately, Jackson decided that the girl would be better off living with her mother, because he did not feel that the father and his partner would be able to meet the girl’s emotional needs as her everyday carers.

And it looks like it could be a case of shooting oneself in the foot – Jackson stated that “the recording programme was not the only indicator of this, but it was a prominent one.”

The girl’s mother has denounced the whole thing as ‘extremely disturbing.’

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