A call came in to Private Detectives in Sheffield from the worried mother of two. She had a daughter of 7 and a son of 5. There had never been any dispute about when her husband saw the children but they had agreed that as he was not working it would a good idea to have them from school and overnight once or twice mid-week. She had recently been called by the head of her children’s school who was concerned that the children were turning up to school sometimes obviously very tired and miserable. On chatting with the head it turned out that these episodes coincided with when her husband had the care of the children. She did not know why this should be the case and when she questioned her husband he was just as surprised as she was.

She was not satisfied with his reaction and asked if we could help. We said it might be a good idea to follow him once he collects the children to see what his movements are. Surveillance was commenced at 3.30pm when he collected the children from school and took them to his home. At 7.30pm they all left the property in his car. They were followed to a nearby industrial estate. Our operative parked unseen and observed the Target who appeared to be wearing a uniform resembling a security guard. The children remained in the car for the duration of the period of surveillance. Our operative concluded that the Target was working as a security guard but was bringing the children along and leaving them in the car while he was on duty. He had them in clear view at all times but obviously this was an extremely unsuitable situation.

Our client was extremely distressed and angry that her husband was behaving so irresponsibly and was going to use our report in helping her gain sole custody in the coming custody case.