Two sisters were reunited with their grandmother yesterday four months after allegedly being kidnapped from their home in Blackpool and taken to North Africa.
Carene and Shelby Crofts, aged 12 and 11, had been the subject of international negotiations since being discovered in the care of strangers in Fez, Morocco. British consular officials brokered a deal for their return home but it collapsed.
Their ordeal apparently ended when Carene fled the house during an argument and ran into the arms of English-speaking neighbours. The police were called and the children were taken into care, allowing the British Consul to rule that they were abandoned and eligible for repatriation.
The sisters were put on a plane in Morocco yesterday and flew into Heathrow at teatime to be greeted by their grandmother. Rita Astbury, 54, who lives in Blackpool, said: “It is the end of what seemed like a never-ending nightmare. I have not had an unbroken night’s sleep for three months worrying about them.
“It has been very frustrating that the law, the Government and the police all seemed unable to act. It took a 12-year-old girl to cut through the red tape.
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“Thank God we will be able to enjoy a happy Christmas with them back where they belong. I am so proud of Carene and Shelby for the way they have stood up to this. They have been through a terrible time. They were tearful but glad to be coming home.”
The girls had been missing since August when their mother, Trudy Crofts, 32, who lost custody of her daughters seven years ago, allegedly seized them during a routine access visit and took them out of the country. It is thought that she took them first to Spain and then to Morocco, where they were left with her boyfriend’s family in Fez.
Despite efforts to repatriate them they remained there until an argument over a television programme led to Carene being chased around the house and into the street by a man brandishing a slipper.
Mrs Astbury said: “It seems that Moroccan police were called in and decided that the girls were being neglected. They were taken into official custody. The British Consul then decided that they were abandoned children and eligible to be repatriated.”
A spokeswoman for Lancashire Constabulary said that it was a happy ending for a complex case in terms of geography and jurisdiction. “It has been difficult in terms of our powers. There were many issues involving the Moroccan authorities and our jurisdiction. Hopefully it has all been resolved with the girls’ safe return.”
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Detective Sergeant Simon Pritchard said: “Our immediate priority is the wellbeing of Carene and Shelby but the criminal case against Trudy Crofts will continue its course.”
Ms Crofts is due to appear before magistrates in Blackpool on Friday to be committed to Crown Court on charges of child abduction. A judge has lifted the anonymity requirement that usually applies to child-protection cases.
The girls were given residence with Mrs Astbury in 2002 because her daughter had been “struggling to cope”. Since then Ms Crofts has lost three cases regarding residence.
“Carene and Shelby are happy girls,” Mrs Astbury said. “They are bright and they have got good school reports.”
It is alleged that Ms Crofts took the children to John Lennon airport in Liverpool and flew to Spain. They were then taken to Morocco.
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At the time Mrs Astbury said: “She wants to start a new life as a Muslim. She had the kids in long clothes with wraps around them and said she had taken them to the mosque.”
Ms Crofts, whose daughters have different fathers, was arrested by the Spanish authorities and held in Madrid before being extradicted.