'Abduction' father remanded

Simon Clayton was held in Portugal for two months

Simon Clayton, the mid Wales father accused of abducting his daughter, has been remanded in custody a day after returning to Wales from a Portugese jail.

Mr Clayton, a Hay-on-Wye book shop owner, had spent almost two months in prison following his arrest on 20 May, after a six-week international search to find him and four-year-old Esti.

He is charged with child abduction.

On Saturday, he appeared befoer magistrates in Llandrindod Wells - he is due to appear before Brecon magistrates on 24 July.

A court in Portugal agreed to extradite him to the UK on 9 July, and Dyfed-Powys Police flew out to the Portuguese prison to collect him.

A judge in Evora, near Lisbon, said Mr Clayton could return after an application was approved during a closed hearing.

But police were not allowed to travel there to collect him until they had received official notification from the Home Office.

The case had been taken up by pressure group Fathers For Justice (F4J), who had criticised the delay in arranging Mr Clayton's extradition.

The group had feared that Mr Clayton would have to stay in prison until September because the Portuguese legal system closes down for the summer.

Mr Clayton and his daughter disappeared days before he and his estranged wife Aneta were due to attend a custody hearing.