Houses of Parliament

On Tuesday 29th March, I was invited to attend an All-Party Parliamentary meeting to discuss the role of Family Courts, which is relevant to Hollie on the grounds that it is this court we have attended due to the actions of Shropshire Council.

The meeting was chaired by John Hemming MP and there was a very good attendance consisting of many parents whose children had suffered as a result of alleged corruption and lack of accountability of public officials, ranging from social workers to members of the judiciary, as experienced in Hollie`s case, both in Scotland and England. Naturally, a great deal of understandable rage was directed at the Cafcass representative, Mr Douglas, who exasperated those present even further by refusing to answer a single direct question.

Belinda McKenzie was first to bring up the issue of Hollie`s case in a forceful yet eloquent manner and shortly afterwards, it was my turn to make a brief speech.

First, I asked how many members of this all-party meeting had bothered to turn up. The answer was just three, out of a total of around 900 from both Houses. Apart from Mr Hemming, another MP had briefly attended, but left before I spoke and the other was from the Lords, a baroness whose name I cannot recall and whose minimal contribution leads me to conclude that it is not even worth finding it out.

I suggested that this was an absolute disgrace, considering the lack of interest in the whole range of family court cases which are perhaps themost disgraceful and pressing issue facing our country in terms of inhumanity and totally avoidable suffering by the most vulnerable members of society.

I reiterated the importance of the Hollie Greig case and called on the parliamentary representatives and a journalist from The Guardian to support MP David Ruffley`s complaint to the Scottish authorities responsible for the debacle.

Finally, I brought attention to the extraordinary conduct of the judge`s clerk and the Honourable Mrs Justice Pauffley`s repeated attempts on 1st July 2010 to pervert the course of justice by denying us our legal rights under Equality of Arms. I urged that the time for prevarication on this and other issues was long gone and corrupt officials, regardless of rank, should be arrested and charged in instances where it was clear that the law had been broken.

There was a great deal of genuine and unselfish support for Hollie and Anne, even though many of those present had dreadful problems of their own to contend with.

How effective the meeting will prove to be cannot be predicted, but there can be little doubt about the strength of feeling and determination of those concerned.