Couple jailed for trying to take their child away

The pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted attempting to abduct the child from the island without the consent of Health & Social Care or court leave.

Prosecuting Advocate Phoebe Cobb told the Royal Court how the final care order, which was imposed in March, required the child to reside with approved family members.

The defendants had access to the child, but with specified conditions.

One morning in July this year a current carer took the child to its mother.

At about 12.30pm the carer received a call from a social worker saying that police had information suggesting that the couple were planning on taking their child out of the island.

After being unable to trace her by telephone, he drove to the harbour, and found the mother on the pavement outside the White Rock Cafe with the child.

On seeing the current carer, she said: ‘I can’t take this any more,’ and handed the child back.

The couple were arrested near the harbour terminal. Both appeared to ‘be out of it’.

The woman asked how it could be kidnap as she said she had given the child back.

She said she had just wanted a few days away. The man too said they had done nothing wrong.

The couple had two suitcases, two rucksacks and a handbag, though they had not checked in for the ferry. The man’s car was found at North Beach with the doors unlocked and the driver’s window open. A Disney suitcase containing the child’s clothes was found in the boot.

The suitcases were later found to contain their own clothes, children’s clothes, nappies, £1,285 in cash, and a driving licence.

There were also copies of the birth certificates of all three which the woman had collected from the Greffe earlier that day. The man had booked one-way travel to the UK the previous week, and paid in cash.

The name of the couple and the child were on the tickets.

For the woman, Advocate Candy Fletcher said her client had been substance-free since July 2022, but had relapsed in March. She had previously been diagnosed with PTSD and her substance misuse disorder was said to be severe. She was a vulnerable person who had not heavily offended.

For the man, Advocate Chris Green said this was not an attempted abduction by strangers, but by loving parents who were both in difficult emotional circumstances at the time. His client had relapsed into misuse of pharmaceuticals in June.

He also admitted failing to provided police with the pin-code to his mobile phone. Advocate Green said there was private and deeply sensitive matters on the phone and opposed the prosecution request for confiscation.

Judge Catherine Fooks said an element of deterrence was justified, as this was a serious case. The root cause had been substance abuse.

There was no evidence of distress or harm caused to the child at the time, but this offence had been planned.

‘There would have been a significant risk of harm to the child had you been successful, because you were not prepared for it,’ she said.

For the abduction offence the woman was jailed for 16 months plus two months consecutive for breaching a previous court order.

The man received 24 months for the abduction, with 12 months consecutive for the mobile phone offence. The phone will also be confiscated. A further 13 months was imposed for breaches of previous court orders giving a total sentence of four years and four weeks.