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In a landmark judgement, the High Court of England and Wales has ruled that children should not be circumcised until they are old enough to decide for themselves. The case arose when the Muslim father of the boy wanted him to be circumcised in accordance with his own religious beliefs, but the English mother disagreed. Top female Family Division judge Mrs Justice Roberts agreed with their mother’s wish to leave it for the boys, aged six and four, to make up their own minds when they are older whether they wish to have it done. The father, 36, was born in Algeria but is now separated from the 34-year-old mother. The couple met in 2006, lived together in a North London flat, and went through an Islamic ceremony of marriage in 2009 before the boys were born. In July 2012 the mother fled the flat with the boys following violent attacks on her by the father. The judge said the father came to England in 2001 on false documents, but had now been given British passport.<ref name="roberts2016">{{REFweb |url=https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2016/849.html |title=Re L and B (Children) (Specific Issues: Temporary Leave to Remove From the Jurisdiction; Circumcision) |last=Roberts |first=Mrs.Justice |author-link= |publisher=British and Irish Legal Information Institute |website=https://www.bailii.org |date=2015-04-05 |accessdate=2020-12-28}}</ref>