Can anyone help interpret bail conditions relating to child contact?

[splishsplosh]

Hi,

My ex partner has bail conditions imposed on him currently with the following exclusions:

not to contact directly or indirectly splishsplosh or children except through solicitor
not to enter/go to borough we live in

Does this mean he is not allowed to see the children? I received a letter from his solicitor who seems (fromthe wording of her letter) to be basing her opinion on what he has told them rather than seeing any documents - the initial letter said ex proposed meeting me each Saturday outside local police station to hand over the children as he didn't think there was anyone who could assist in arranging contact.

When I found out his bail conditions I said he is not allowed in our area, and it sounds to me like he is not able to see them.

I have now received another letter saying that the order does not prevent him having contact with the children so long as he doesn't approach them directly to arrange this (they are 5 and 2) and they want to know if I'm agreeable to contact taking place.

But to me it doesn't make sense that it states he can't contact them directly or indirectly except through a solicitor, but it's ok to meet them. Thanks for any help

It says no contact. He's not allowed in the borough where you live. Indirect contact means contact through someone else, if he gives his mother a letter to pass to the children for example. It would be a good idea to send a copy of the bail conditions to his solicitor.

Thanks - that's what I thought it meant - just made unsure by the fact that even though I explained what the bail conditions were to the solicitor after the first letter, she still seems sure that he can have contact with them, even though he can't contact them!

Sounds bizzare. Do you have a solicitor? Someone needs to send his solicitor a letter. It sounds as though he can send letters but they have to go via his solicitor and no one else and he's to have no other contact. I may be wrong though but I don't think I am.

No, I don't have a solicitor at the moment, so guess need to find one.

I don't actually have objections to him seeing the children if they're happy to see him, as long as I am not involved in any way - but obviously no way I'm going to do anything that would be a part of him breaking his conditions, as they were put in place to protect us

There are contact centres run by different charities where you can drop them off, they can see their father and you'll never have to see him. They are sometimes supervised visits as well if this is any use to you. Barnardo's run them I think.

I would read it that he cant have any form of contact with you or them other than through his solicitor, meaning no contact

If you allow him to breach the bail conditions by seeing the children will the police be less amenable to enforcing the other bail conditions? I've had it with a client who had a 5 year restraining order against her ex - she let him have contact with the child, and had to communicate with him from time to time over that. When he made a pest of himself the police wouldn't enforce the restraining order because she'd allowed him to technically breach it, and we had to get her a fresh civil injunction.

splishsplosh, I think you should ring Womens Aid and ask them to recommend a good solicitor in your area..

From what Resolution says,you need to tread carefully.

Resolution - thanks. I wouldn't breach the bail conditions - I appreciate they've put in place for our protection, and I had that problem before when I let him breach an injunction I had last year slightly to see the kids, then the CPS wouldn't take it into account when he broke it badly...but as soon as I stuck to it rigidly, the next time he breached it, they were able to prosecute. So would only let him see the children if it was allowed, as his solicitor still seems to think.

Jellycat - thanks for the advice. I do have a name of a solicitor from local family justice centre so will prob see them if need to

try contact centre route if you want contact to take place
www.naccc.org.uk/

but without knowing the ins and outs there seems to be discrepancy between no contact with you or children but fact is you happy for him to have the children?

splishsplosh, I regularly impose that sort of bail condition and it means exactly what it says, no contact unless for example to pass a birthday card through a solicitor. He cannot meet you to hand over children without breaching bail. The bail conditions were imposed for good reason, one of which must be either to avoid interference with witnesses or to prevent commission of a further offence. Tell his solicitor to take a walk. If you permit contact under pressure other proceedings against him may be affected. His solicitor can propose a contact centre but he would have to go back to court to vary his bail. To be honest, I think they are trying to see if you will breach bail so that he can go back to court to say that you wish for contact because of the children . Total try-on.