Teenager loses court docket bid towards his personal dad and mom after they despatched him to boarding faculty in Ghana over fears he would fall into gang violence in Britain

A teenager has lost a court bid against his own parents after they enrolled him at a boarding school in Ghana over fears he would fall into gang violence in the UK. 

The boy began legal action after his family secured him a place at the school in March last year.

His parents feared he was becoming involved with gang culture in Britain and arranged for him to stay with extended family in Ghana without telling him.

His lawyers said he wanted to return to the UK, where he was born, to live with his family again.

But Mrs Justice Theis ruled the boy, known as S, should stay in Ghana at least until he has finished his GCSEs.

In a judgment published on Tuesday, she said because the parents remain opposed to his return, the risk of a relationship breakdown would be ‘very high’, which would ‘compound the risks of emotional harm’.

She said: ‘I am acutely aware that the conclusion I have reached does not accord with S’s wishes and how that will feel for him.

‘I hope, in time, he will come to understand the wider reasons why I reached this decision in looking at and weighing up the many facets of this difficult and complex welfare decision.’

A teenager has lost a court bid against his own parents after they enrolled him at a boarding school in Ghana over fears he would fall into gang violence in the UK (Stock photo) 

In February this year, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that the boy should stay in Ghana and the youngster successfully appealed that decision, meaning it was heard again by Mrs Justice Theis.

A hearing last month was told the boy had been involved in fights, and attempting to sell clothes and a phone that may have been stolen, while his mother found a kitchen knife outside the living room window.

She had become fearful for his safety and still ‘considers him to be at risk of serious physical harm or death’ if he returns, Michael Gration KC told a hearing last month.

Mrs Justice Theis said the boy has felt ‘tricked’ and ‘abandoned’ in Ghana and that he does not speak the local language, had a panic attack and had been hospitalised for a stomach ulcer ‘which could have been caused by stress or the spicy food he had been given’.

She also said there is a ‘very real concern’ about the effect on S if he remained in a country where he feels abandoned.

She added, however, that he is showing a ‘growing maturity’, while his day-to-day life is becoming more stable and he has shown ‘more of an understanding of why his parents took the steps they did’.

He has also shown more of an ‘understanding and recognition of the risks he was exposed to’ in the UK. 

The judge said: ‘That is a positive step but it is of note that S falls short of acknowledging the more serious risks that were found, in particular concerning the knives, and the concern that, according to his father, S remains in contact with those who were involved in the risky behaviour here was not disputed or explored.’

She continued: ‘Stability for S’s education is an important part of his welfare landscape.

‘If he remains in Ghana, the plan is for him to remain at his current school.

‘The early signs are that he is settling there, has made friends and is working hard.

‘S is an able and intelligent young person. Limiting the disruption in his education is most likely to make an important positive contribution in any plan for S to return to live here.’