A father convicted of threatening or abusive behaviour (breach of the peace) in connection with a contact dispute has been successful in appealing against a related non-harassment order which would have prevented him making any contact with his three children.
In the appeal judgement, delivered by Lord Brodie, it was concluded that as the children in this family were not the victims for which the non-harassment order was made, the original Sheriff was wrong in making an order that would prevent contact with them. Lady Clark in her summing up said “at no point in these proceedings has the best interests of the children been properly examined” although this comment wasn’t included in the published judgement.
This decision is significant because it makes it less likely that non-harassment orders will be made in such a way as to stop all contact of a parent with children.
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