Mentally ill woman's baby to be moved from UK to Ghana

The patient's mother, who the BBC is calling Sara, said she fears she will never see her granddaughter again

A girl born after a professional carer had sex with a severely mentally ill patient is set to be moved from the UK to his parents' home in Ghana.

An MP has described the local authority's decision as "totally bonkers", while the woman's mother said she had been left "traumatised".

The council said it did not comment on individual cases, but always considers "what's in the child's best interests".

The carer was questioned by police in 2019. He has not faced any charges.

The now two-year-old girl was conceived after the woman was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and treated at a secure unit in Surrey.

Doctors were subsequently ordered by a court to perform a caesarean section on the basis the woman lacked the mental capacity to make her own medical decisions.

The patient's mother, who the BBC is referring to using the pseudonym Sara to protect her identity, said she had been limited to three video calls with her granddaughter.

Sara was not allowed to foster her because, among other issues, she said she refused a social services requirement to break all contact with her daughter.

"I appreciate my daughter couldn't care for my granddaughter - but we felt bullied out," she said.

'Outrageous'

"The next thing I heard from social services was to say she was going to live in Ghana with her African grandparents."

Sara, who now lives in the New Forest, said it was "outrageous" the carer could admit to having sex with a patient and not face criminal charges.

She said: "I want them to prosecute him for what he's done to my daughter and our family because we're all traumatised by what's happened.

"And I seem to get the impression everybody thinks he's a really nice man. That's very hard to deal with.

"He's going to be allowed to get away with it.

"He's ruined our lives and he's going to walk away with my granddaughter... and once she goes to live there, she could possibly disappear - that's my fear."

It is against the law for a carer to have a sexual relationship with a patient they know has a mental disorder, and is an offence that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Earlier this month, Surrey Police said a man attended a voluntary interview in 2019, and that its inquiries into whether any sexual offences had been committed were ongoing.

MP Julian Lewis said it was "totally bonkers" for the child to be rehomed in Ghana

Julian Lewis, Sara's constituency MP, said: "It is beyond belief that the parents of that father in a third world country are now apparently being lined up to take charge of this baby for her future.

"Quite extraordinary. Quite astonishing. Totally bonkers."

Conservative Mr Lewis said he was "astonished" a police investigation had not progressed more than two years after the apparently "open and shut case" was reported.

The BBC took his comments to Surrey Police, which said it had now passed an investigation file to the Crown Prosecution Service and was seeking its advice.

The force added that investigations into such offences were complicated and take time.

A spokesperson for the local authority involved said it was "legally required to consider if it is possible for children to be cared for by wider family members before any other arrangements or orders can be put in place".

The spokesperson added: "Where children in care need to live abroad… arrangements will be made in line with legislation, both in this country and in the relevant other country… and prospective carers are fully assessed."