A travel ban has been relaxed for a two-year-old girl thought to be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The girl from Hertfordshire is under the care of her British Muslim mother. Her father is an Egyptian man who lives in Egypt and is not allowed to travel to Britain.

The mum wants to take the little girl, who is approaching her third birthday, to Egypt to see her father.

She was previously banned from taking her daughter abroad after council social services staff raised concern about the risk of FGM.

Now, a High Court judge said special arrangements must be made if the girl is to travel to Egypt.

Mr Justice Cobb - who analysed the case at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London - said there will be strict limits on where the girl can go and how long she can stay.

In late 2017, another High Court judge Ms Justice Russell made an FGM Protection Order and ruled the mother could not travel outside the UK with her daughter until the youngster turned 16.

She said the risk to the girl was "so great" that a travel ban had to be imposed.

Appeal judges said that decision should be reviewed and Mr Justice Cobb has now approved a trip to Egypt after reconsidering evidence.

The judge, who outlined his decision in a written ruling published online, said he thought that sufficient safeguards could be put in place to allow the girl to make a "short, and carefully managed" trip to see her father.

He said the girl, who lives with her mother in Hertfordshire, could not be identified in media reports of the case.

The judge ruled:

  • The trip would last for no more than a week;
  • It would take place in term-time so the girl could go back to her nursery when she returned home and be seen by professionals;
  • The girl would spend time with her father in Hurghada, a tourist resort on the Red Sea coast;
  • She could not travel outside Hurghada;
  • She could not meet her "wider paternal family";
  • She would fly with her mother, and her mother's father, and they would stay in a "tourist resort hotel";
  • Court staff already held the girl's passport and would not release it to the girl's maternal grandfather until 48 hours before the flight;
  • The girl's passport would be returned to court staff 48 hours after the trio returned to Britain.

Mr Justice Cobb said he could not lose sight of the fact that he was guarding the girl against FGM - a "heinous form of criminal ill-treatment".

But he added: "I am nonetheless satisfied that sufficient safeguards can be put in place around (her) to allow for her to have a short, and carefully managed, trip to Egypt."

Social services staff at Hertfordshire County Council had initially raised concern about the risks of FGM.

Mr Justice Cobb analysed arguments from seven barristers - Hannah Markham QC and James Holmes, who represented Hertfordshire County Council; Nkumbe Ekaney QC and Charlotte Proudman, who represented the girl's mother; Christopher Hames QC and Alistair Perkins, who represented the girl's father; and Kate Tompkins, who represented a specialist guardian appointed to protect the girl's interests - before making a decision.