A father who disappeared with his four-year-old son for seven days in breach of a family court order has been jailed for four months. Ian Malone, from Gateshead, was found with the boy in Dunblane, Stirling, following a nationwide search.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, sitting in the Family Division of the High Court in Newcastle, ruled that an immediate custodial sentence was necessary due to the 'planned nature of the abduction'. The judge described it as a 'planned purposeful breach of a court order'.
Malone, aged in his 40s, admitted breaching the order that allowed him contact with his son on specific days. The court heard he borrowed a car from a friend nearly a month before the disappearance and deliberately avoided phone contact and digital traceability.
In his defence, Malone said he felt 'traumatised' by family court proceedings and believed he was being removed from his son's life. He accepted he had made a 'huge mistake'.
The judge concluded: 'An immediate custodial order is the only appropriate sentence reflecting the gravity of the contempt.' The boy and his mother have since been reunited.
