Mr Justice Poole said Daniel Hesketh’s “intimidating and very unsettling” behaviour took place at St Helens Family Court during private family law proceedings relating to the welfare of his two children, with the mother appearing remotely. The recording of the hearing showed Mr Hesketh was “quite meek for the first five minutes but then he began to be increasingly argumentative, aggressive, hectoring, and abusive. “As the judge determinedly continued, Mr Hesketh clearly felt that he was not being listened to and his behaviour only worsened. The judge’s attempts to maintain order and not to be diverted only served to aggravate Mr Hesketh further. He considered a suspended sentence, but Mr Hesketh had not attended “to provide any mitigation or information about circumstances relevant to the decision whether to suspend”.