A mother has disappeared with her two young daughters after accusing police of taking her children from her and holding them against their will.
Angela Kelly, 46, was last seen with Shanti Harbourne, 12, and Maya-Rose Kelly-Johnson, 5, in Camberley, Surrey, on Sunday night.
Last night it was reported that Miss Kelly was hiding out in woodland using survival tips she picked up from David Shayler, the disgraced former MI5 spy.
Mr Shayler, who spent years on the run after exposing alleged wrongdoing in the secret service and was jailed for six months in 2002 for breaching the Official Secrets Act, is understood to have told Miss Kelly to flee after police took the children into care and to have taught her ways to evade the authorities.
Mr Shayler said that he did not know where the family had fled to but admitted helping Miss Kelly after he moved in with the family two weeks ago.
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Ms Kelly wrote on Facebook on Saturday: “The police took my children into care last night. Tried to run but they caught us . . . they had no paperwork but took the children anyway . . . only an email of a court order sent to my email address.”
Scotland Yard would not disclose the circumstances of the disappearance, where the girls were when they were last seen or how they came to be reported missing. Officers believe that the family are somewhere in the borough of Camden, north London.
A spokesman said: “The sisters are both white. Shanti has shoulder-length brown hair and is of slim build. She was wearing a black Batman top, ripped black bottoms and brown boots. Maya-Rose is of average height for her age with long brown hair. She was wearing long pink pyjamas . . . and black boots.”