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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Family Division) Decisions >> Williams v Williams [2023] EWHC 3479 (Fam) (25 October 2023) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2023/3479.html Cite as: [2023] EWHC 3479 (Fam) |
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version
of the judgment to be published.
FAMILY DIVISION
Strand London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
ABIGAIL LAURA WILLIAMS | Applicant |
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ANDREW JOHN WILLIAMS | Respondents |
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Official Court Reporters and Audio Transcribers
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Vardags
solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Applicant.
MR R SLADE of Slade & Co solicitors, appeared on behalf of the Respondent.
____________________
VERSION
OF JUDGMENT
Crown Copyright ©
MR JUSTICE MOOR:
Williams,
for contempt of court in relation to an order made by Her Honour Judge Gibbons on 19 January 2023. There was a penal notice attached at the head of the order. Mr
Williams'
then solicitors were on the record at the time. The order directed him to file a form E by 1 May 2023. It further directed him to file
various
documents in preparation for the First Directions Appointment by 15 May 2023. It is accepted on his behalf that he knew about the order; that there was a penal notice attached; that he has not complied with the order; and, therefore, that he is in contempt of court.
via
his solicitor Mr Slade, that he is in contempt. It follows that I find the contempt proved beyond reasonable doubt.
views
this contempt
very
seriously. I
very
much hope that this has been brought home to Mr
Williams
over the last few days. Two weeks ago, I heard oral evidence on oath from his accountant, Mr Matthew Denney, who told me that the seriousness of the situation had been brought home to Mr Denney and he subsequently communicated that to Mr
Williams.
This led to Mr
Williams
coming to this country to see his solicitor, Mr Slade with the intention of, finally, attending a hearing in this court. Mr
Williams
is to have credit for that.
vividly
into focus by the fact that, when Mr
Williams
arrived at Gatwick Airport he was, almost inevitably, arrested pursuant to a Bench Warrant made previously by myself. He was kept in custody overnight. I accept that this would have been a shock for him, as a previously law abiding citizen, to find himself in custody. I am sure that this has brought home to him the seriousness of this matter and how he cannot continue to ignore court orders and fail to attend court hearings.
Williams
for the contempt that he admits.
very
serious matter of itself. The second, of course, is to secure compliance with the order in the future. Both aspects must be taken into account in my sentencing.
view
that a
very
important objective here is to get a comprehensive Form E sworn by Mr
Williams.
For that reason alone, I have decided that I should suspend my sentence of imprisonment. Ms Lloyd asked me to give Mr
Williams
only 14 days to file his Form E. I take the
view
that Mr
Williams
should have the 28 days that Mr Slade seeks on his behalf, given that Mr Slade is, effectively, starting from scratch.
Williams.
I sentence you to imprisonment for a total of 56 days. If that sentence ever comes into effect, you will only serve 28 days, whereupon you will be released. You should have credit for the one day you have already served.
very
much expect that you will comply. I have to warn you that, if there is a further contempt, the sentence is likely to be far longer and be immediately imposed. Moreover, the possibility of a European Arrest Warrant would then have to be considered.
Williams
is undoubtedly entitled to her costs of this application on an indemnity basis. There have had to be at least three, if not four hearings, since her application in Form A for financial remedies was made, entirely as a result of the approach taken by Mr
Williams.
I make an indemnity costs order, which I am going to assess in the sum of £58,000, but I am going to say that this order is not to be enforced without leave of the court, because I have already provided for these costs in my order for legal services funding provision. Assuming Mr
Williams
co-operates, some of the money that I have allocated for legal funding may be saved. It may then be possible for some of the money to be returned to him. The importance of this costs order is that, whatever happens, the sum of £58,000 will never have to be returned to him.
Williams
does not make himself 'judgment proof' by spending all the frozen money in this jurisdiction. Mr Slade requires a total of £100,000 for these costs.
Williams
is to send to
Vardags,
the applicant's solicitors,
via
Mr Slade, a list of all his accounts overseas and the amounts in those accounts by Friday at 12 noon. Thereafter, Mr Slade and the applicant's solicitor, Mr Lister, are to try to agree where the balance of the £75,000 should come from. If they cannot agree, the matter can be dealt with by me by email. I consider that this is the fairest way to ensure, first, that Mr Slade gets paid for his work in complying with my orders, but, second, to stop Mr
Williams becoming judgment proof.