Our Christmas of Heartbreak: Three dads share their stories with Fathers4Justice
Ryan’s Christmas Story
I’m Ryan I’m 28 from Scotland. I was with my former partner for 8 years and we had 4 children together, 2 boys Riley and Dylan 8 and 6 and a boy-girl set of twins Kasey and Dominic 3.
After a holiday, myself and partner had a major argument that caused the end of the relationship and police involvement by my ex which caused me to be arrested for domestic assault for protecting myself.
I was found not guilty of this in Scotland.
Whilst this trial was going on my ex used a domestic abuse charity (Arch) to relocate, 250 miles away in or around Stoke on Trent . My ex partner has consistently lied to courts and lawyers and this has caused me to not have any contact with my children since June 2014 (which was only for 15 mins).
I have had to travel to Stoke 3 times now with my 4th court date to get access to my children on January 26th. It costs over £150 each time I go to court and have been fighting it all myself, although I have a full time job in the NHS. I am losing over half my earnings to CMS and cannot afford a lawyer.
I feel I am fighting a losing battle and at the end of the day I just want to be a father to my four beautiful children. I am certainly not an abusive person as I was accused of and cleared of but it continues to be held against me leaving me depressed suffering anxiety and generally having an exhaustive time of it.
Ryan Lawson
Paul’s Christmas Story
Hi my name is Paul. I last saw my daughter on 14th December 2014.
Hannah, my daughter has had her mum putting things in to her head with Cafcass supporting the concept but still refusing to take case further. I’ve had an evidence hearing but wasn’t able to present much evidence because the judge wasn’t interested.
I’ve suffered with depression and attempted suicide during this ordeal its broke my heart. The judge and social services and Cafcass have let my princess down.
If Hannah sees this I want you to know I love you so much and I wont give up till I get you back.
Paul Medd
Craig’s Christmas Story
I, like many others am currently enduring the most awful time of my life, having been separated from my children and not having any contact since June 2014. I have a 6 year old son and 5 year old daughter who I love very much. We had a close, loving family relationship until my wife and I separated.
Since then she and her parents have embarked on a campaign to exclude me from every aspect of my children’s lives despite there being no legal reason to do so.
I am an ex-police officer who served for 12 years with the West Midlands Police. Unfortunately due to a domestic incident between my ex-wife and I in February 2014, I was dismissed from my job. Without going into detail, I can assure you it was a minor incident but she was bullied and manipulated by the police to make a complaint which ultimately cost me: my job, my family, my home, my pets, my hobbies, my entire lifestyle and eventually forced me to flee the country for fear of imprisonment.
The police requested a restraining order against me, which by it’s very nature was absurd, ridiculous and unlawful. They lied to the courts in order to obtain it and I was unable to contact my ex-wife because of it. Since then, I have been further arrested on suspicion of breaching the order (I wrote a letter of apology on the advice of a solicitor) and was on police bail with conditions not to breach the conditions of the restraining order. Another absurd imposition.
I have been excluded, without reasonable grounds from the school my children attend. I used to volunteer every Friday to help out with school activities but was told they could no longer allow it after my arrest. I have been excluded from the church my children attend. Discriminated against by being removed from the email circulation list and lied to.
I have made appeal after appeal and begged for help from numerous public authorities with every one of them either not interested or taking sides.
My ex-wife has lied to Children’s Services in order to justify her actions (she has excluded me from my own home but has not lived there herself since February 2014). She has lied to The Family Courts by providing false information in order to force through and rush the divorce without giving me a chance to make my own representations.
I have contacted, The IPCC, The Chief Constables office, the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, The Police Federation, The Local MP, The Home Office, The Arch-Deacon of Birmingham, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Warwickshire Children’s Services and HMIC to mention a few.
To date every request for contact has been denied or ignored and returning to The UK will mean immediate, unlawful arrest which without family or legal support I will be unable to fight. I am more than willing to go public now as I believe The police need to be exposed as well for their role in this abhorrent situation. Several of my ex-colleagues have broken the law and acted illegally but The West Midlands Police are refusing to do anything about it.
In the meantime, my children suffer without a loving father in their lives and no one seems prepared to do anything about it. They are the only victims here.
Craig Munro
