'This is an absolute insult': Man takes estranged wife to court after row about five-year-old daughter's haircut

Trim was catalyst for decision of mother to move girl out of family home

(Getty Images)

A British property developer took legal action against his estranged Taiwanese partner after they fell out over their five-year-old daughter’s haircut, a court heard.

The man, who is in his 60s, was unhappy about not being consulted over the trim and told the woman, who is in her 30s, “this is an absolute insult”.

It was the catalyst for the mother’s decision to move the girl back to London from the family home in Brussels, deputy High Court judge Clare Ambrose was told.

The woman complained about her partner’s “controlling behaviour” and had become depressed.

However the father asked the court to order his partner to return their daughter claiming welfare decisions should be made in Belgian courts.

During the case the woman said she feared she would suffer a “psychiatric collapse” if she returned to Belgium and said the little girl would be put in an “intolerable” position

Judge Ambrose ruled in the man’s favour after considering evidence at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London in November.

In her ruling she said the girl was habitually resident in Belgium and concluded that a return to that country would not put her at “grave risk” of being placed in an “intolerable situation”.

The judge said the family involved could not be identified in media reports of the case.

Press Association