Teenager 'tricked' into moving to Ghana should stay until GCSEs finished, judge rules

A teenager whose parents left him in Ghana over concerns about gang violence in the UK should stay in the west African country until at least the end of his GCSEs, a High Court judge has ruled.

The boy started legal action after his family enrolled him in a boarding school in Ghana in March last year.

His parents were worried that he was becoming involved with UK gang culture and arranged for him to stay with extended family in Ghana without letting him know.

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

High Court judge Mrs Justice Theis said the boy, known as S, has felt "tricked" and "abandoned".

She added he had a panic attack and does not speak the local language.

But the judge ruled the teenager should remain in Ghana, at least until he has finished his GCSEs.

In a judgment published on Tuesday, she said that because the parents remain opposed to his return, the risk of a relationship breakdown would be "very high", and 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."

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

A hearing last month was told that the boy had been involved in fights and trying to sell clothes and a phone that could have been stolen, while his mother discovered 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, for the mother, told a hearing in October.

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Mrs Justice Theis said S had been in hospital 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 the boy of him remaining 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 London".

The judge said that if the teenager remains in Ghana, the plan is for him to stay at his current school, where "early signs" show he is "settling there, has made friends and is working hard".