A court has overturned a 'disproportionate' order banning a father from seeking contact with his daughter for five years.The Appeal Court in London heard the ban had been imposed at Northampton County Court in July 2000.
The child's mother had raised concerns that the man might abduct the girl, referred to only as "I".
However, a panel of three judges overturned the ban on Thursday, meaning the 50-year-old father can re-apply for contact with his daughter in January.
Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, sitting with two other judges, said orders imposing such lengthy bans "must be used with great care and sparingly".
She said the girls' parents, from the Northampton area, married in 2000 but separated just five weeks later when the father went to work abroad.
On his return, he was at first allowed fortnightly contact with his daughter and acted "entirely appropriately" during visits.
Dame Elizabeth allowed the man's appeal against the ban, saying the length of the ban had been "clearly disproportionate to the circumstances of this case".
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