Separated parents often have disputes about custody or access to children. Our client, Clara, booked a lie detector test in Colchester because she was concerned about the safety of her children.

Clara’s Story

Clara had split with Graham. Drugs had played a big part in the break up as all their money didn’t seem to very go far. He could never explain why his wages were different each week. He always seemed like he was on another planet and there was no talking to him when he was like that.

They had three young children together Luca 12, Sarah, 8 and Jonas who was only13 months old. No matter how hard she tried to trust him with them something always happened. He’d often call her when he was out by himself. He would say he’d run out of money and needed her to pick him up usually from one of the roughest parts of town. She’d had enough. Clara had never taken drugs but she knew the signs.

Inappropriate environment

The last time, before the split, Graham had called her from a pub. Luca had gone with his Dad that day to spend some quality time with him. When she arrived she realised that the pub was known for dealing drugs. Luca was playing pool with some people she had never met. They were all drunk and clearly on something. Graham was at the bar and didn’t even realise who she was when she turned up. That was it, she threw him out but he still insisted on seeing the kids and she limited this to once a fortnight.

Every time Graham collected the children she worried about where they were. Would they be safe and what state he would turn up in when he brought them back? Graham would deny taking drugs or course, but she knew. She confronted him every time and the last time she had bought some drug tests online and made him take one when he returned. Stupidly she’d allow him to go to the bathroom by himself and she soon realised he was using someone else’s urine. She wanted to stop him seeing the children, not because she hated him and wanted to punish him but because it wasn’t fair to them. However, the children loved him and it also wasn’t fair to take their father away from them.

Because of his constant denials she made a decision she would ask him to take lie detector test in Colchester. This wasn’t far from where they lived and if he was as serious about seeing his kids as he made out, and wasn’t taking drugs, he should have no problem with going.

Confrontation

Clara made the call. She didn’t have a lot of money but the little she had in savings was worth spending on the safety of her kids. She’d never wanted to stop him from seeing them. Growing up without a father was hard, she knew. Her own father had left when she was young but safety was her priority and not letting the children grow up in a world filled with drugs and violence like she had.

 First Steps

The polygraph examiner explained the process and it wasn’t as complicated as she first thought. She poured out her heart, giving the examiner the full story. He explained having a lie detector test in Colchester would require Graham to voluntarily come to the office there. It would be better, he said, if Graham came alone to the secure, controlled and unbiased environment. In this way Graham would feel more relaxed.  If Clara wanted to know if he was taking drugs when he was with the children, the examiner would find out.

Booking the lie detector test in Colchester

This time Clara wasn’t taking any chances. She would still allow the kids to see their father if the result confirmed her worst fears, but it would be supervised. So she booked the polygraph test. Now all she had to do was convince Graham to take it.

Did Graham take the lie detector test in Colchester or didn’t he? Find out what happened in our next blog.