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Prison for husband who breached occupation order

January 19, 2025

The actions of a person on relationship breakdown can obviously be very destructive, as they take out their anger on the other party.

But such actions have consequences for the perpetrator, as a recent Family Court case demonstrated.

The case concerned a couple who separated in or about August 2022, when the wife left the former matrimonial home, which was owned by the husband, taking the 4 children of the family with her.

The wife then applied for and obtained non-molestation and occupation orders. The occupation order required the husband to vacate the former matrimonial home and allow the wife to return, and to pay the mortgage and outgoings on the property. It also provided that the wife should keep and use the furniture and contents of the property.

The husband then informed the wife that he would not be paying the mortgage or utilities, so that the house would be repossessed. He also stripped the boiler, water tank, microwave and all integrated white goods from the house by the time the wife had moved back in with the children, leaving the property with no heating or running hot water.

The wife applied for the husband to be committed to prison for contempt of court, for breaching the occupation order.

The husband promised to the court that he would reinstate the items that he had removed from the property, but then failed to do so.

The court found that the husband was in beach of the occupation order, by failing to pay the mortgage and removing the items from the former matrimonial home. The husband was in contempt of court, and his actions were calculated, wilful and deliberate.

In the circumstances the court was satisfied it was appropriate to sentence the husband to an immediate custodial sentence (rather than a suspended sentence), and that no other order was likely to secure his compliance with the occupation order, as the husband had absolutely no intention of complying with the order, unless forced to do so.

The next question was: how long should the sentence be? The court had the power to impose a sentence of up to 2 years, but here the judge considered that a sentence of 3 months was appropriate.

The judgment concluded with a reminder to the husband (who did not attend the hearing) that he was entitled to apply to purge his contempt, which if accepted may lead to his prompt release from custody. Purging of contempt would require the court to be satisfied of regret and remorse for the conduct which gave rise to the committal, a recognition that repetition would be likely to lead to further imprisonment, and an expression of desire to atone and have the slate wiped clean.

You can read the full judgment here.

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