Two boys who hated living in France so much they asserted their Britishness and refused to return to live there with their mother have been granted their wish by senior judges.

In a highly unusual case, Lord Justice Thorpe, one of three judges sitting at the Court of Appeal in London, said that the desire of the brothers, aged 11 and 16, to live in England deserved to be respected and overrode even the wishes of their own mother.

Describing the case as “not just exceptional but very exceptional”, the judge said that the boys’ French mother had taken them back to her homeland with her in 2005 after her marriage to their British father had broken down. But the two boys, who at the time spoke no French, failed to settle into their new lives in a market town in southern France and, after a holiday in England with their father in July this year, refused to return.

The boys’ mother came to England to take them back to France but they insisted that they wanted to stay in England.

The judge added: “Apparently, they told her that [in England] they could walk to school, could have their own key and would not have as much homework.”

The judge said that the language barrier had been “a real problem” for the boys and they felt they could not discuss the issue openly with their mother, who had “chosen to deal with their objections either by ignoring or stifling them” and had “shut her eyes” to their wishes. That prompted the mother, who is 37, to accuse the father, 40, who lives on the outskirts of southeast London, of “abducting” the boys and she started a High Court action under the Hague Convention for the boys’ return.

But last month Mr Justice Coleridge, sitting in the High Court, said that he had never heard such “strong objections” from two such young people, ruling that there were “exceptional” reasons why they should get their wish and be allowed to remain in England with their father.

In the Court of Appeal, the mother’s barrister, Stephen Bellamy, QC, argued that the judge’s decision was “wrong in principle” and that his client’s opinion as to what was best for her sons should hold sway. He said that, as the boys were “habitually resident” in France, the Hague Convention – which enshrines the international ban on child abduction – demanded that they be returned for their future to be decided by a French court.

Refusing the mother permission to appeal, Lord Justice Thorpe, sitting with Lady Justice Arden and Lord Justice Lawrence Collins, said that he had “rarely, if ever, heard such strongly expressed views by children of this age”.

Although the mother had long known that the boys “view France as a foreign country where they are unhappy”, she had “refused to confront or deal with” their views and had shown an “inability to recognise reality”, the judge said. While recognising the importance of upholding the principles of the Hague Convention, the judge said that there were “very exceptional” reasons why the boys’ wish to stay in England should prevail.

In his original decision, Mr Justice Coleridge described both parents as “impressive people” and said he was “quite satisfied that the father has not, in any shape or form, put the children up to this”. The boys had “simply and strongly expressed the view that they will not return” to France.

The mother had argued that her sons’ life in France was happy and settled and their views were “not a matter which should be given great weight”.

The case is continuing as there will now be a hearing over contact arrangements for the mother.

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