Men who father children by rape should be blocked from automatic parental rights, MP says

Men who father children by rape should have their automatic parental rights removed, a Labour MP has said.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Louise Haigh proposed that rapists should not have a legal right to children who are born as a result of their crimes.

Ms Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heely, cited the case of sexual abuse survivor Sammy Woodhouse, who testified against her rapist in a trial that helped expose the Rotherham grooming scandal.

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MPs heard how Ms Woodhouse’s rapist, Arshid Hussain, was actively encouraged by Rotherham Council to apply to the court for “contact” with her son, who was conceived as a result of that rape.

According to Ms Haigh, Rotherham Council contacted Hussain without notifying Sammy.

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PA 13/50 2 April 2019 Armathwaite Hall hotel in Keswick, Cumbria holds Lemoga classes with the lemurs from Lake District Wild Life Park, who were mingling with the class to create a personal yoga experience which aims to heighten the sense of wellbeing for both lemur and human. With their friendly, outgoing personalities and love for human contact, lemurs make the perfect yoga buddies, helping people to laugh, unwind and stretch away their troubles PA 14/50 1 April 2019 Fire fighters attend to two police cars that were destroyed after being set on fire outside Goldthorpe police station in South Yorkshire in a suspected arson attack PA 15/50 31 March 2019 Forensics teams work at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton in London. Four people have been stabbed in a spate of knife attacks in the north of the capital over the weekend Getty 16/50 30 March 2019 Workers from the Honda plant in Swindon during a protest march through the town as the car giant will be urged to reverse its decision to close its UK plant Unite South West/PA 17/50 29 March 2019 Pro-Brexit protesters outside Westminster as MPs voted on a Government motion on the EU withdrawal PA 18/50 28 March 2019 England football captain Harry Kane is made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by the Duke of Cambridge during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace PA 19/50 27 March 2019 Gallery staff give a final dusting to the 'Olympe' sculpture by Aspencrow, modelled on Cara Delevingne and an interpretation of Medusa, as it is unveiled at the JD Malay Gallery in Mayfair, London PA 20/50 26 March 2019 PD Marci with handler PC Neil Billany, PD Kai with handler PC Jean Pearce, PD Bruno with handler Rob Smith, PD Delta with handler PC Mark Snoxhall, PDSA vet Rosamund Ford, and PD Dave with handler PC Andy Salter at Borough market in London where the dogs were honoured with the PDSA Order of Merit for helping emergency services during the 2017 London terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Borough Market PA 21/50 25 March 2019 Britain's Attorney General Geoffrey Cox arrives in Downing street, London for a cabinet meeting. British Prime Minister Theresa May will today chair a potentially volatile meeting of her cabinet amid reports of an attempted coup by colleagues over her handling of Brexit. AFP/Getty 22/50 24 March 2019 Workers peeling off stickers left on the Cabinet Office door on Whitehall, London, left by anti-Brexit campaigners after they took part in the People's Vote March PA 23/50 23 March 2019 Protesters take part in the Put It To The People March on Whitehall in London. Thousands of protesters gathered for the march from Park Lane to Parliament Square calling for a public vote on the Governments final Brexit deal Getty 24/50 22 March 2019 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after a news briefing after meeting with EU leaders in Brussels Reuters 25/50 21 March 2019 The mosque and community centre on Albert Road in Birmingham where a police forensic team are at work after it had its windows smashed with a sledgehammer. An investigation involving counter-terrorism officers has been launched after four mosques in the Birmingham area were attacked overnight PA 26/50 20 March 2019 Gallery technicians install Edvard Munch's The Scream at the British Museum in London, ahead of the opening of Edvard Munch: love and angst exhibition, which runs from 11 April to 21 July PA 27/50 19 March 2019 The 'tall ship' William II passes a wind turbine as it sails along the north east coast near Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear after it set off from Blyth in Northumberland on a voyage round the coastline of Great Britain calling at 10 ports en route and changing crews at each stage. The Blyth Tall Ship project is a charity working alongside Blyth community volunteers to recapture the spirit of adventure that was employed in the town to discover the Antarctic 200 years ago and the turbine is part of a pilot field operated by EDF off Blyth which uses concrete float-and-submerge foundations PA 28/50 18 March 2019 Messenger, the largest bronze cast sculpture in the UK, arrives in Plymouth Sound by barge as it makes its way to be installed outside Theater Royal Plymouth, Devon PA 29/50 17 March 2019 Flooding in Silsdend, Yorkshire. Heavy rain has caused widespread flooding across the country. Flood warnings remain in place across the UK PA 30/50 16 March 2019 Police at the scene in Fulham, west London where a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death this morning. The Metropolitan Police said it was called "to reports of a fight in progress" by ambulance crews and arrived on the scene at about 12.27am. The victim was found with stab wounds and died at the scene at 12.56am despite attempts by paramedics and members of the public to save his life PA 31/50 15 March 2019 Schoolchildren gather around Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace as they take part in a student climate protest in London. Thousands of pupils from schools, colleges and universities across the UK will walk out in the second major strike against climate change this year. Young people nationwide are calling on the Government to declare a climate emergency and take action. Similar strikes are taking place around the world today including in Japan and Australia, inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who criticised world leaders at a United Nations climate conference Getty 32/50 14 March 2019 Families of those killed during Bloody Sunday march through Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Public Prosecution Service announced only one former British soldier is to be put on trial in connection with his role in the shootings that left 13 people dead in Derry on 30 January 1972. Families of those killed gathered outside The Museum of Free Derry, yards from where the killings took place, before marching to the city centre hotel to hear the announcement Charles McQuillan Getty 33/50 13 March 2019 Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond leaves 11 Downing Street as he heads to the House of Commons, to deliver his Spring Statement. He announced he was slashing the UK growth forecast and warned no-deal Brexit will destroy pledge to end austerity PA 34/50 12 March 2019 British Synchronised swimmers Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe, attempting to recreate their World Championship routine in a pool filled with plastic for The Big Bang Fair challenge, opening this week at the NEC Birmingham. The campaign for the Big Bang competition, which is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) for young people in the UK has been created to help highlight how the eight million tonnes of plastic dumped in the world's oceans every year affects marine life PA 35/50 11 March 2019 Snow surrounds the Tan Hill pub in North Yorkshire PA 36/50 10 March 2019 A man feeds food to dogs during the 'Brexit Dogs Dinner' protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London Reuters 37/50 9 March 2019 Protesters from the climate change pressure group Extinction Rebellion demonstrate by pouring fake blood onto the street outside Downing Street in London Reuters 38/50 8 March 2019 A woman runs with her Komondor dog as it is judged in a show ring on the second day of the Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham AFP/Getty 39/50 7 March 2019 Scaffolding which has blown down in strong winds in Hampstead, north London Robert Berg/Twitter/PA Wire 40/50 6 March 2019 Police and bomb disposal services outside the University of Glasgow after the building was evacuated when a suspect package was found in the mailroom PA 41/50 5 March 2019 Police officers secure the scene where a suspicious package was found near Waterloo railway station. Other packages were also found at Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, with the police saying they were bombs. Counterterror officers are investigating the three devices as linked following a series of evacuations. One of the packages opened by office staff at Heathrow Airport burst into flames. Scotland Yard did not rule out the existence of other bombs. “The packages – all A4-sized white postal bags containing yellow Jiffy bags - have been assessed by specialist officers to be small improvised explosive devices,” a spokesperson said. “These devices, at this early stage of the investigation, appear capable of igniting an initially small fire when opened. “The Met Police Counter Terrorism Command is treating the incidents as a linked series and is keeping an open mind regarding motives.” Reuters 42/50 4 March 2019 Large waves crash over the sea walls at Cleveleys near Blackpool, as the remains of Storm Freya, which has battered Britain with gales, heavy rain and snow causes widespread travel disruption PA 43/50 3 March 2019 Christopher Hepworth with partner Tanisha Prince (right) on their way to victory in the annual UK Wife Carrying Race at The Nower in Dorking, Surrey PA 44/50 2 March 2019 Police officers search near the scene on St Neot's Road in Harold Hill, east London following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old girl on Friday night. Police were called to reports of a knife attack in the Romford area by the ambulance service at 9.25pm. The girl was pronounced dead at the scene just over an hour later. Her next of kin have been informed and detectives from the Metropolitan Police have launched a murder investigation PA 45/50 1 March 2019 Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Niamh Emerson celebrate after winning gold and silver medals in the women's pentathlon at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow Getty 46/50 28 February 2019 A painting, believed to be the second version of "Judith Beheading Holofernes" by Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, is picutred during a photocall in London following its restoration. - The 400-year-old canvas -- depicting the beheading of an Assyrian general, Holofernes, by Judith from the biblical Book of Judith -- was found in 2014 when the owners of a house near the southwestern city of Toulouse in France, were investigating a leak in the ceiling. It is a burst of violence painted in haunting tones by a Renaissance master worth at least $100 million -- or yet another fake distressing the art world. AFP/Getty 47/50 27 February 2019 Dozens of firefighters worked through the night to battle a major moorland blaze in West Yorkshire. More than 1.5sq km of Saddleworth Moor was ablaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the UK’s hottest winter day on record Reuters 48/50 26 February 2019 Alastair Cook after he received his knighthood at Buckingham Palace PA 49/50 25 February 2019 Nobby the polar bear cools down at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park during unseasonably warm weather. The park was covered in a blanket of snow at the end of February 2018 as the UK was hit by sub-zero temperatures. Forecasters have said that after this weekend's warm weather, temperatures later this week should return to normal PA 50/50 24 February 2019 Olivia Colman won the best actress in a leading role award for 'The Favourite' at the 91st Academy Awards in Hollywood PA

Ms Haigh, 31, told the Commons: “It is inconceivable to anyone with any sympathy, empathy or a drop of common sense” that Hussain was encouraged to apply to the court.

“It is difficult to imagine how anyone could have imposed a greater threat to Sammy than Arshid Hussain. That is why the law clearly needs to change,” she said.

“We need to flip the presumption that anyone who has fathered a child through rape should be encouraged to apply for access, regardless of the risk they present, to removing that automatic right and allowing the courts to only grant access in exceptional circumstances if it is in the clear interest of the child.”

Ms Haigh’s legislation, The Parental Rights (Rapists) and Family Courts Bill, also seeks to allow an inquiry into how family courts operate in response to victims of domestic abuse.

Currently, family courts in the UK are private to protect children, and are not subject to the same scrutiny which can be applied to the criminal courts.

“It’s precisely this privacy which puts some women at risk,” said Ms Haigh.

Ms Woodhouse was 14 when she met Mr Hussain, who was one of three brothers behind the grooming and sexual abuse of over 50 girls. Mr. Hussain was jailed for 35 years in 2016.

Speaking in a video posted on Twitter in December, Ms Woodhouse said: “This story is actually about myself, about my son, about the man that raped me and the fact that Rotherham council have offered him to apply for parental rights over my child.”

She urged the government “to change the law to ensure rapists can’t gain access to children conceived through rape and abuse.”

“People, women and children are being put at direct risk,” she said.

Rachel Almeida, spokesperson for independent charity Victim Support, said: “The law should be on the side of the mother and child, not on the side of the rapist, and we support changes to address this imbalance.”

Ms Haigh originally proposed an amendment to the 1989 Children’s Act. However, the government’s said this would undermine the convicted rapist’s right to “a family life.”

“This is nonsense,” said Ms Haigh on Wednesday. “This is a qualified right and no one could conclude that his rights should supersede the safeguarding concerns of mother or child.”

A 2016 Women’s Aid report, Nineteen Child Homicides, revealed that 19 children had been intentionally killed by a parent in circumstances relating to child contact over a ten year period; for 12 of these children, contact with the perpetrator was arranged by the court.

Katie Russell, Media Relations Co-ordinator for Rape Crisis England & Wales, said that Ms. Woodhouse’s experience “is far from an isolated incident".

“Rape Crisis has called for a complete overhaul of the criminal justice system in relation to sexual violence and abuse, which is currently and routinely failing victims and survivors, for many years,” said Ms Russell.

“We have included and continue to include a call for a full review of family courts practice in this demand. We agree with Sammy Woodhouse and Louise Haigh MP that such a review is urgently needed, not just regarding domestic abuse, but also in relation to all sexual violence and abuse.”