Mr Justice Holman (above) has said more than £100,000 of public money has been spent

More than £100,000 of British taxpayers' money has been spent on a family court dispute centred on a seven-year-old boy who was born in Afghanistan and has never set foot in the UK, a judge has revealed.

The boy's parents left him with an uncle in Afghanistan when he was a month old, judges in London have heard.

They then travelled to England and subsequently separated.

The boy's mother, Hadiah Hashimi, says she has not seen her son since she left Afghanistan and wants him brought to England.

She says her estranged husband, Sayed Hashimi, knows where he is and she has taken legal action.

Mr Justice Holman says both parents are getting legal aid.

The judge has told how the boy's mother has run up more than £60,000 in lawyers' bills and his father more than £40,000.

He has revealed figures in a written ruling on the latest round of litigation.

Mr Justice Holman says at some stage a judge will have to balance the overriding objective of the litigation against the cost.

Earlier this year another judge had concluded that Mr Hashimi knew where the boy was, and ordered him to provide information about the youngster's whereabouts.

Mrs Hashimi claimed that Mr Hashimi had not told the truth and had breached that order.

She asked Mr Justice Holman to rule that Mr Hashimi was in contempt of court and to jail him.

Mr Justice Holman dismissed her application.

The judge analysed the contempt allegations at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

He has named Mr and Mrs Hashimi in his ruling but has not said where they live.

'The fact is that within about a month of the birth of the child, the mother and the father did both travel to England leaving the child at that stage in the care of the uncle,' said Mr Justice Holman.

'It is the case of the mother that she understood that the child would follow fairly soon to England, once his capacity to enter the United Kingdom had been established.

'The mother has never seen that child again. For at least six years she has not had the slightest idea where her child is. She does not know whether he is still in Afghanistan and, quite frankly, in view of the strife within that country in recent years, she cannot even reliably know whether her child is still alive.'

Sayed and Hadiah Hashimi, who are receiving legal aid, are currently fighting in the Family Division of the High Court in London over their son

He added: 'It is hard to imagine a greater suffering and torment than that which that mother must daily go through.'

But he said there had to be 'some limits' to the litigation, which the woman had launched nearly six years ago.

'Over £100,000 of public money has already been expended on litigation in relation to the whereabouts of this child, who has in fact never, ever set foot in the United Kingdom,' said Mr Justice Holman.

'At some point a judge will have to grapple with the overriding objective and considerations of cost and proportionality.'

Detail of the case emerged in May, in a ruling by another judge. Mr Justice Peter Jackson concluded that the father knew where the boy was, and ordered him to provide information about the youngster's whereabouts.

Lawyers representing the man said the 'investigation' into the boy's 'situation' was in the hands of Afghan authorities and they said a judge in England should not 'seek to take over'.

Mr Justice Jackson said the case was 'highly unusual' and described the order he made as unprecedented.