The Court of Appeal has recently ruled that an ex-pat Canadian woman could not take her children back with her to Canada after her divorce, reports the Telegraph.

The mother wanted to return to her home country after her marriage broke down, and was initially given permission by the courts to take her two young children with her.

Her ex-husband appealed against the decision, and the Court of Appeal ruled in his favour. Under their custody arrangements, the father had been looking after his children two nights a week. The Court felt that losing this contact with their father would cause the children considerable harm, and this outweighed the damage that might be caused by the mother's distress in losing the appeal.