S was acquitted of 17 counts of child neglect on 28 February 2017 after a 7 day long trial at Croydon Crown Court. His case began 2 years before that when his children were removed from his care after they made various allegations of neglect and abuse against him and he was arrested. He was on police bail for almost 18 months before being charged with the 17 offences. S’ defence was that their mother had put the children up to making up lies so she could get full custody of them to assist her in her immigration matters and allow her to remain living in the country. It was a complicated and emotional case. The children were aged between 11 and 17 and the eldest was deaf, visually impaired and also only spoke Portuguese. Prior to the case, S had had full custody of the children. S was acquitted in less then two hours by the jury and can now move forward with his life and hopefully begin to rebuild relationships with his children.

S was represented at trial by Siobhan Molloy of 15 New Bridge Street and Anna Hindmarsh was the solicitor with conduct of the case.