CBeebies host cleared in child abduction case
Children’s cookery show presenter fled Australia with baby after discovering partner had four girlfriends
A FORMER CBeebies presenter accused of child abduction left her boyfriend and took their child back to Britain after discovering he was having affairs with four other women.
Katy Ashworth, 30, was accused of abducting her toddler from Australia by her former partner, film director Ben Alcott.
Ms Ashworth, who is known to millions of parents across the country as the face of CBeebies cookery programme I Can Cook, had resigned from her role to start a new life with Mr Alcott and their child in Sydney.
But just three days after moving to Australia she discovered he was dating four other women. She took the child and flew back to the UK, emailing him: “Ben. I know everything. I’m done. Have packed up and left.”
A second email read: “Thank goodness I found out all the lies before moving to Australia with you for good.”
Mr Alcott, 42, then accused her of child abduction and a family court sitting in the High Court has been hearing the case in secret.
Judge Alexander Verdan yesterday dismissed the abduction allegation and allowed the media to name the child’s parents.
Mr Alcott – who lives in Australia – had argued that the child was habitually resident in Australia.
But Judge Verdan concluded that the child was not wrongfully removed from Australia. “My conclusion is that any agreement by the mother to move to Australia was based on a fundamentally flawed premise,” he said. “If the mother had known the true state of affairs I am satisfied that in all likelihood she would not have moved to Australia with (the child) even for a trial period.”
The judge added: “The main reason the mother left Australia was that she discovered material on the father’s computer which indicated to her his infidelity.”
He said Ms Ashworth had discovered evidence suggesting that Mr Alcott was having relationships with four other women.
He added that she had found “women’s clothing” and “more importantly” messages on Mr Alcott’s computer from other women.
Mr Alcott said he accepted that his personal life was “very complicated” and said it was “very difficult to balance the different female interests in his life” as his “decks were very crowded”.
Judge Verdan concluded that the child had never “acquired habitual residence in Australia”.
“I concluded that [the child] was not integrated to a sufficient degree in a social and family environment in Australia and that the mother was probably not integrated at all,” said the judge.
The couple met in Africa during filming of a television show and began a long-distance relationship.
Their child was born in Britain three years later.
Ms Ashworth began her television career presenting I Can Cook and has appeared in five CBeebies Christmas pantomimes and at the inaugural CBeebies Prom at the Royal Albert Hall.
‘The main reason the mother left ... was that she discovered material that indicated to her his infidelity’