A Scots father has set up camp on an uninhabited island to highlight the “isolation” of parents separated from their children due to a legal loophole dubbed the “kidnappers charter’.
Nathan Gilmour’s seven-year-old daughter and four-year-old son were taken out of the country three years ago by his wife Angelica Gilmour Gray.
The Ayrshire-based teacher has been pleading with the Scottish Government to take action to secure their return ever since.
In England and Wales, there is legislation in place preventing a parent from taking children abroad without another parent or carer’s consent, but in Scotland it is not a criminal offence unless there are certain court orders in place.
The Scottish Government has said it will consider addressing the loophole “in due course” as part of its Family Justice Modernisation Strategy but Mr Gilmour believes there is a reluctance to “take responsibility” for the legal disparity.
The youngsters are now believed to be in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not signed up to the Hague Convention – making it difficult to have the children tracked down and returned.
When the children were first taken out of Scotland, Police Scotland did not consider them to be at risk so no action was taken.
A civil warrant for the children’s mother Angelica Gilmour Gray was issued by the courts, but this can only be enacted by Sheriff Officers.
Police reviewed the case in November last year and confirmed that the children are now being treated as missing following a supplementary report on their mother.
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Mr Gilmour has decamped to the uninhabited lighthouse island of Lady Isle, off the coast of Troon for a week to highlight, “ the loneliness and isolation experienced by left behind parents and abducted children.”
He is attempting to raise funds to cover the legal costs of pursuing a judicial review to close the legal loophole.
“Since 2017 there has been significant evidence that this is legislation which needs changed,” said Mr Gilmour.
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“It is outdated, it’s a loophole and they [the Scottish Government] has not done anything about it.
“I think there is a reluctance to now turn round and say, yes we should have done something about this and a fear of taking responsibility.”
Mr Gilmour has accused the Scottish Government of fudging figures which he claims show that in 2019 more than 90.5% of the public backed a change in the law to bring Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.
The SNP reported the figure as 49%.
His local MSP Siobhian Brown is seeking to clarify the figures in a parliamentary question.
The couple separated in December 2017 and in April the following year, Mrs Gilmour Gray refused to allow Mr Gilmour access to his children, resulting in a court battle at Ayr Sheriff Court.
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Following a lengthy legal process, Sheriff Scott Pattison ordered Mrs Gilmour Gray to allow her husband access to the children.
However, instead of taking them to their first meeting, she fled the country.
”The last time I saw my children was April 2018," said Mr Gilmour. "At that time my son was only five months old and my daughter was three.
“I don’t know my kids anymore. Certainly that is the case with my son and I would seriously doubt if my daughter would remember me.
“It’s not so much the milestones that I have missed, it is their childhood, it’s the opportunity for them to develop a relationship with their dad and the rest of their family.”
There is no official record in Scotland of children who are victims of parental abduction unlike in England.
The charity Reunite International estimates there are between 500-600 cases each year in the UK.
Mr Gilmour says the stress of his childrens' disappearance led to him giving up his job as a secondary teacher. He believes his case would have treated more seriously if he was a woman.
He said: “If I had gone into my house and removed my two children, as Scottish law suggests that I am allowed to do, if I had got on a plane and disappeared, I wouldn’t have got very far.”
Earlier this year the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) ruled that four of Mr Gilmour’s complaints were not dealt with to a reasonable standard and Police Scotland is reviewing the findings.
Mr Gilmour has a fundraising page at https://gofund.me/1d2d0f1b
**The article has been updated with a correction. Mr Gilmour has accused the Scottish Government of 'fudging figures' on public support for a change in the law and not as originally reported, SNP MSP Siobhian Brown**
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