G (CA105/05) v W

This case concerns an application for special leave to appeal against the refusal of leave to appeal from an interim custody order. The applicant, G, and the respondent, W, are the parents of a child born in 2000. The legal dispute arose from a history of contentious and problematic relationship between the parents, with both having made allegations of abuse against each other. The Court was required to determine whether the Court of Appeal had jurisdiction to hear the appeal from the decision of the High Court refusing leave to appeal against an interim custody order. The Court held that the appeal was from the refusal to grant leave to appeal, not from the interim custody order itself, and that the statutory provision in the Care of Children Act 2004, which requires leave of the Family Court to appeal from an interim order, was a jurisdictional bar to the appeal. The Court found that the High Court correctly held it had no jurisdiction to hear the appeal and declined the application for special leave to appeal. The Court also declined to make a costs order in favour of the respondent.