England and Wales High Court (Family Division) Decisions

IN HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
FAMILY DIVISION

		1st Mezzanine Queen's Building Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2A 2L
		8 June 2018

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MR JUSTICE HAYDEN:

1. By early 2011 it was clear that the marriage of Mrs. Ruth Halford and Mr. John Halford had irreconcilably broken down. They had been married for twenty-five years and, undoubtedly, some of those were happy years. They produced three children, all now adults.
2. However, in the years leading up to 2011, the marriage had faced significant difficulties. There was something of a disparity between the ages of the couple and gradually, but inexorably over time, they grew apart.
3. To this difficult domestic situation there was added the challenge to Mr. Halford, then in his early sixties, of being reduced from full-time permanent paid employment to commission-only employment and, in consequence, there was significant strain on the family's finances. Though they had not had a holiday together for at least five years, in early March 2011, Mr. Halford announced, to the astonishment of his wife and his children, that he intended to embark upon an extravagant 'fly-drive' holiday alone to Egypt and to join a cruise.
4. His youngest son was indignant that his Father should spend such a significant amount of money on himself at a time when the family could ill afford it, but the plan was pursued. On 31 March 2011, Mrs. Halford drove her husband to Luton Airport and dropped him off for his own personal odyssey. It was however, agreed that upon his return the family would no longer live together and Mr. Halford would find bed and breakfast accommodation.
5. The holiday was to be for a week. Mr. Halford was booked on board the 'Spirit of Egypt' and he was accommodated towards the stern of the ship. His cabin had a port hole but it did not have a balcony. The trip cost him some £6,000.
6. During the course of the week, there is no record of any other person visiting Mr. Halford's cabin. There is no evidence of him socialising with any particular individual. On 6 April he sent a text to his wife setting out the arrangements for his collection from the airport. He then placed his luggage outside the cabin door as he had been requested to do. The last sighting of him was using his on-board card to buy drinks from the casino bar.
7. There is no suggestion from any of the staff on board the cruiser that Mr. Halford was in any way obviously down or depressed. He is and, I am told, always has been a reserved and not particularly sociable man. The observations, such as they are, seem to indicate that he was behaving in every way normally for him.
8. He is however shown as having bought a cocktail at 22.40 hours on 6 April. The waitress who served him described him as "fine" and sitting alone, but Mrs. Halford found it frankly astonishing to think of her husband drinking a cocktail. That was something that she had never known him to do. When he drank, which was not particularly frequently, he was very much a beer or lager drinker.
9. Mr Halford ordered a second cocktail at about quarter to midnight. Two cocktails in just over an hour does not suggest that he was drinking particularly heavily, but this was out of character for him. The receipt for both the drinks was discovered back in his cabin, this suggests that he had not met with any misfortune following the drinks but had gone out from his cabin again. It was discovered within the cabin that he had left everything apart from his key card and his ship ID. Thus, his passport, wallet, et cetera were all in the cabin.
10. 'The Spirit of Egypt' set sail from Hurghada at approximately 22.30 hours and docked at Sharm el-Sheikh at just after 7.30 a.m. the next morning. The ship ID card and the door key card have not been recovered. Mr. Halford did not appear at his coach to the airport as expected, subsequent checks of his cabin found, as I say, his hand luggage, travel documents and his phone. A search of the ship was instigated but Mr. Halford was not located nor was he ever to be seen again.
11. The next day would have seen him returning to England to embark upon life as a single man following the breakdown of what was his third marriage, in poor economic circumstances and significant debt.
12. An investigation was undertaken by the Thames Valley Police. In due course they concluded that Mr. Halford had either jumped or fallen from the ship overnight and that there are no further inquiries that can be made.
13. A couple of years ago, the family had a memorial service and the children and Mrs. Halford were able, as best they could, to celebrate Mrs. Halford's life and "achieve some closure" as Mrs. Halford puts it. Under her care, the children have blossomed and succeeded in life. She is manifestly and rightly proud of them.
14. In the light of this history, I am prepared to grant a presumption of death certificate in relation to John Phillip Halford.