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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Family Division) Decisions >> Gibbs v Gibbs [2017] EWHC 1700 (Fam) (29 June 2017) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2017/1700.html Cite as: [2017] EWHC 1700 (Fam) |
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This judgment was delivered Open Court. The judge has given leave for this
version
of the judgment to be published.
FAMILY DIVISION
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
Charles Ronald Gibbs |
Applicant |
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| - and - |
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Jean Patricia Gibbs | Respondent |
____________________
Mrs
Gibbs
appeared unrepresented
Hearing dates: 29th June 2017
____________________
VERSION
OF JUDGMENT APPROVED
Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Hayden :
Gibbs
to commit his ex wife, Jean Patricia
Gibbs,
to prison for breach of the order of Mrs Justice Roberts dated 19th June 2017. It is a case with a dispiriting history, some of which is necessary for me to set out in this judgment so that the orders made by Roberts J may have context.
"I have no doubt that the evidence I prefer is that of the applicant father. I simply cannot recognise and reconcile the demeanour of MrGibbs
and what I saw, with what he is alleged to have done. On conflicts of evidence I prefer Mr
Gibbs,
I am satisfied he is doing his best to tell the truth, although he says he is not perfect."
"The difficulty is that I don't think MrsGibbs
is right in her
version
of the facts, but she believes she is right. She indicated that if I don't think he is guilty of emotional abuse I will have made a mistake. I don't think I have. She said she might appeal, she has the right but she must bear in mind I make my decision on the wealth of evidence I have read and heard. I think both may have abused emotionally. Children should be protected from the battle of wills. Both parties need to put the interests of the children first."
"accepts that by not raising any allegations of emotional, physical or sexual abuse against MrGibbs
the contact between [B] and her father should proceed on the basis that all the allegations are unfounded"
Gibbs
in any other forum with any other person or body and specifically including Mr
Gibb's
employers', the Methodist Church. Finally, it was expressly acknowledged that 'contact between the younger child B and her father should proceed on the basis of the concessions made by the mother that day'.
"The advice which mother has received and the decision which the mother has taken seem to me to be entirely appropriate in the circumstances. These matters must now once and for all finally be laid to rest. That, as I understand it, is the basis on which I am being invited to approve this order. I am sure that I do not have to say this, but it is important for the parties to appreciate that this is intended to be a final order which maps out into the foreseeable future the pattern of father's contact with B and, equally importantly, B's contact with her father."
"have taken a brave decision, and a decision which in many respects and for different reasons must have been difficult for each of them, [they] are to be congratulated and thanked for agreeing to this order. I hope that each of them will join with me in thanking the lawyers collectively, and indeed the other professionals involved, whose input and assistance I have little doubt has done much to bring this about. "
view
that the case would conclude there. It did not, it next came before Mr Justice Johnson scarcely 6 months later, in November 2002. The arrangements made in respect of contact had already fallen into difficulty. In his judgment dated 3rd July 2003 Mr Justice Johnson expressed himself with characteristic lack of ambiguity. He said this:
"Having seen the mother give evidence now on more than one occasion, I do not find it at all surprising that she did not abide by the agreement she had made. In my judgment, and I find, she never intended to abide by the agreement. The inference that I draw from what has happened is that the allegations against the father were without any substance and were unfounded. I find that the mother had no genuine belief in them."
"The mother continued to repeat the allegations not only to B but also to friends and people in the local community. I am told that prior to this hearing it was said by some in her community that 'truth would out at this hearing'. The truth is that these allegations are unfounded, as the mother had agreed. They have always beenvehemently
denied by the father. They have been investigated and the outcome is clear. These allegations are false. The mother knows it but continues to publish them because she wishes to hurt the father. At the beginning of this hearing the father told me that the mother had attended court with a number of supporters, one of whom had threatened to take steps to deprive the father of his office in Holy Orders. I caused that person to be brought into court to take the oath. He denied having threatened the father, but from the manner in which he spoke and his demeanour I did not accept his denial. It needs to be made plain that those who attend court are entitled to the protection of the court. These cases relating to children are full of emotional tension, and anyone who could speak in the way that that man spoke demonstrates their lack of understanding of human nature." (my emphasis)
"And upon the court accepting that the agreement by the applicant father to the making of an order for indirect contact does not at all adversely reflect upon his integrity nor upon his proper wish to work towards the restoration of direct contact with B."
"the parties are so far apart that were I to proceed further in the face of objection I have no doubt I (as the court) would cause significant harm to the child at this stage."
"absent cogent reasons to the contrary it cannot be right that a young woman grows up in the absence of one of her parents' care when that parent is alive. It is morally and legally offensive. I say these words in the clearest way I possibly can. But, to impose upon her something that she cannot, at this stage, receive would be just as offensive. I decline to do so for the time being".
vilification
against the father. She issued a raft of emails to thousands of individuals all of which either accused the father directly of physical, sexual and emotional abuse or inferred in the most unsubtle of ways that he was an abuser. The father had undoubtedly become used to his character being traduced by the mother in this way but this bombardment against his reputation was, as the mother herself frankly acknowledges, beyond anything that she had undertaken before. She had, she told me,
visited
her lawyer 'some time in approximately 2014'. She discovered that the prohibited steps order made in the Children Act proceedings was not life long, as she had understood it to be but in fact expired when B turned 18 years of age. This in part explains, in my
view,
the liberation she felt in being able to pursue her campaign more
vigorously.
Gibbs
believes that, faced with the onslaught of his ex wife's allegations, his Church, his friends and his colleagues have done precisely that, moved ultimately to judgement against him. They have, he believes, succumbed to the openly malevolent objectives of his ex wife to discredit him publicly and to attack his position in the Church.
Gibbs
does not deny any of this. She accepts that she sent the emails, she asserts, unequivocally that she does not think her husband should be part of the Church. She believes that there has been 'perjury' and 'sexual abuse' and she believe it is her bounden duty to expose that, notwithstanding the history of the litigation that I have taken time to set out.
Gibbs,
when represented, as I have said, by experienced counsel before a judge of this division, readily accepted that the evidence before the court could not, even on the civil standard of proof, establish a finding. At risk of repeating myself: there has been no finding of sexual abuse; no finding of perjury against the father; no evidence produced either in 2003 or in the years that followed that would be likely to establish such findings.
Gibbs
appeared (in person) before Roberts J in response to the father's application for permission to disclose material from the Children Act Proceeding into the public domain and to prohibit the mother from further defamatory publication. Paragraphs 10 and 11 of the Orders made that day, which were reinforced by penal notices, state:
10: Until further order, the Respondent must not disclose, disseminate, or publish any information about these proceedings concerning the Applicant, or any proceedings in the Family Court that have involved the parties, and any allegations made within the context of proceedings in the Family Court, whether by print, electronic form, or on the world wide web and should not instruct, encourage or in any way suggest that another person should do so.
11: Until further order, the Respondent shall not copy any third party into her correspondence with the Applicant's solicitor, save her own legal advisor.
Gibbs
from further denigrating the father's reputation. She is unapologetic about what happened thereafter. Within 24 hours of Roberts J's order Mrs
Gibbs
was barraging rafts of individuals with her unsubstantiated allegations. There were, by 6.45am on 20th June, a hundred further recipients to her allegations. The schedule below sets out the breaches of the order, each of which is admitted by Mrs
Gibbs.
In respect of paragraph 10
i) Email at 06:45 on 20.06.17 to circa 100 recipients (at C309-C310);
ii) Email at 07:08 on 20.06.17 to Rev Horton and copied to circa 100 others (at C311);
iii) Email at 20:11 on 20.06.17 to Mrs Poxon and copied to circa 100 others (at C332-C333);
iv) Email at 20:16 on 20.06.17 to President of Methodist Conference and copied to circa 100 others (at C334-C335);
v)
Email at 06:56 on 21.06.17 to Prof Jay and copied to circa 100 others (at C324-C325);
vi)
Email at 07:05 on 21.06.17 to George Freeman MP and copied to circa 100 others (at C326-C327);
vii)
Email at 22:58 on 21.06.17 to President of the Methodist Conference and copied to circa 100 others (at C336-C337);
viii)
Email at 08:43 on 22.06.17 to circa 100 recipients (at C338-C339);
ix) Email at 02:39 on 23.06.17to circa 100 recipients (at C340-C341);
x) Email at 03:00 on 23.06.17 to Mrs Poxon and copied to circa 100 others (at C342-C344);
xi) Email at 06:47 on 23.06.17 to Mrs Poxon and copied to circa 100 others (at C344-C345);
xii) Email at 11.23 on 24.06.17 to Rev Horton and copied to 100 others (at C346-C347);
xiii) Email at 16:45 on 24.06.17 to Mrs Poxon and copied to 100 others (at C348-C349);
xiv) Email at 05:57 PM on 24:06.17 to circa 100 recipients (at C329-C330);
xv) Email at 17:36 on 25.06.17 to circa 100 recipients (C355-C356);
xvi) Email at 17:43 on 25.06.17 to Mrs Poxon and circulated to circa 100 others (C357-C358);
xvii) Email at 18:42 on 25.06.17 to circa 100 recipients (C359-C360);
xviii) Email at 06:14 on 26.06.17 to circa 100 recipients (C352-C354).
In respect of paragraph 11
xix) Email at 20:00 on 20.06.17 to Applicant's Solicitor and copied to circa 100 others (at C321);
xx) Email at 06:41 on 21.06.17 to Applicant's Solicitor and copied to circa 100 others (at C322-C323);
xxi) Email at 07:36 on 22.06.17 to Applicant's Solicitor and copied to circa 100 others (at C328);
xxii) Email at 17:57 on 25.06.17 to Applicant's solicitor and copied to 105 others (at C350-C351).
Gibbs
appears before me today unrepresented. I have advised her at least twice that I have it within my power to order that criminal legal aid be provided so that she can be represented by counsel. She does not, she tells me, wish to be represented by counsel. She only wants to explain to me that it is her duty to stand up to what she perceives to be perjury. She has looked at the core material with me, she has been sent the bundle of documentation in advance, though she has not brought it with her to court. She tells me, she hardly needs it for she 'has lived it' and most of the documents relate to material drafted and sent by her.
Gibbs
to prison. I advised her of the options available to this court, one of which was to suspend a sentence of imprisonment on her undertaking that she would comply with Roberts J's order. She declined to do so unless, as she put it, and I repeat
verbatim,
"This court could give assurance that it can require a judicial review of the background facts of the case."
Gibbs
has flagrantly undermined or actively disobeyed Court Orders. She tells me that she has come to Court expecting to go to prison and is 'happy, proud, and completely at peace to be in contempt of court'. In an email directed to the President of the Family Division she states 'short of killing me or having me killed, you will not silence me…'
"It seems to me to be important to note some crucial features of the committal process:
(1). the procedure has an essentially criminal law complexion. That is to say, contempt of court must be proved to the criminal standard, i.e. so that the judge is sure. The burden of proof rests throughout on the applicant (see: Mubarakv
Mubarak [2001] 1 FLR 698);
(2). contempt of court involves a deliberate contumelious disobedience to the court (see: Re: A (A Child) [2008] EWCA Civ 1138);
(3). it is not enough to suspect recalcitrance; it must be proved (see: London Borough of Southwarkv
B [1993] 2 FLR 559);
(4). committal is not the automatic consequence of a contempt, though the options before the court are limited – for example: (a) do nothing; (b) adjourn where appropriate; (c) levy a fine; (d) sequester assets; (e) where relevant, make orders under the Mental Health Act (see: Jamie Malcolm Halev
Rachel Tanner [2000] 2 FLR 879);
(5). the objectives of the application are usually dual, i.e. to punish for the breach and to ensure future compliance;
(6). bearing in mind the dual purpose of many committal proceedings, they should be brought expeditiously, whilst primary evidence is available and the incidents are fresh in the mind of the relevant witness. This is particularly important in the Court of Protection where there may be reliance on avulnerable
witness and where capacity might have to be assessed."
Gibbs
but, I strongly suspect on her children too, I am left with no opportunity other than to impose an immediate custodial sentence which reflects the nature and consequences of the breach. In the circumstances Mrs
Gibbs
should be committed to prison for a period of 9 months.
Post script
Gibbs is unrepresented, I have told her that it is open to her at any point to request a hearing before me to purge her contempt. I do not find it necessary to repeat her defiant response but merely to record that she has been made aware of her rights.