Anyway, Mr. Park said Carol took with her enough clothes to get by and took the large hair dryer which we have heard mentioned. He said he expected her to take some time on her own and then to return home in due course. She had not told him at that stage that any other man was involved. He said that she did not make any arrangements to see the children; it was simply not mentioned. Then a date which Mr. Park remembered precisely on the 26th of September 1975, he said he received a 'phone call at school from Carol, who said she wanted a divorce. She did not say why and did not say what her plans were, Mr. Park told us. There was no correspondence from lawyers he said at that time. However, during the week before half term, Carol had come to the school and had tried to arrange access during the half term holiday that was coming up. After that half term Mr. Park said she had access to the children every Saturday at her mother's home. Mr. Park said he was present on all these visits, and this was the sort of matter which you remember the social worker or probation officer looked into at the time of the custody hearing in Middlesborough.
Perhaps we should just have a quick look at that report, produced in March of 1975. It is tab nine in your second series of dividers. It was read during the course of his evidence by Mr. Webster, I think it was, the passage about access in that report, where Mrs. Hollows the author said that undoubtedly there had been a number of problems over access in the past month. "It is difficult to know quite what these were, as both sides have accused the other of being wrong. However, prior to my intervention in January, Mr. Park refused to allow his wife to see the children without his being present. He also refused to allow the children to meet Mr. Brierley, until I pointed out they would have to meet him sooner or later." Mr. Park accepted that that bit was true, but he denied that he had been obstructive about access. He said he did not want the children disturbed from their present arrangements, and he thought it was in their best interests that that should be so, and he was also asked about a passage at page three of the same report, four paragraphs down on page three. The social worker had written "The custody of the children is of paramount importance to him, and he cannot see his own future without them. He is also very resentful towards his wife and is determined to stop her having the children." He said to you that he did not think that fairly reflected his attitude at the time at all. He said to us he was not sure when he had first heard about Mr. Brierley. He thought it was either just before or just after Christmas. He had not been aware that Carol had tendered her resignation from the school where she was teaching. He said he had been over to see her once or twice at the guesthouse and taken clothes for her. He had tried on those occasions to persuade her to return.