Care abduction case parents found

Paula Sears gave herself up in Barcelona, say North Wales Police

Police investigating the alleged abduction from care of two young children by their mother say they will be brought home from Spain on Tuesday.

Paula Sears, 28, from Flint, went missing with the children's father, who is on bail for an alleged serious sex offence against another child.

An international search for Ms Sears ended when she walked into a hospital in Tarragona with her children.

Meanwhile, her partner Kevin Jones, 32, was arrested in Spain late on Monday.

The couple's two children have been taken into the care of authorities in Catalonia. The adults were held under international arrest warrants.

Supervised visit

Flintshire social services officials arrived in the Costa Dorada resort on Monday and were to bring the children back as soon as possible.

Police had said that two weeks ago, Paula Sears' children, who had been in foster care, were brought to her home by a Flintshire social worker for a supervised visit.

While the social worker was taking a phone call, it is alleged the 28 year old locked her in the house and took her three-year-old son Jacob and two-year-old daughter Shauna to her car.

Police say that after meeting up with her partner, the family boarded a ferry at Dover and travelled to France.

Detectives in Wales worked with Interpol and followed up possible sightings of the four at the Disneyland resort outside Paris.

Officers said they were concerned for the children as their parents may not have had the means to sustain a long journey further into Europe.

On Monday evening, it emerged that a woman was being held in Spain and two children were taken into the care of social services in Barcelona.

North Wales Police Chief Inspector Simon Shaw said the public appeals for the family to contact them had persuaded Ms Sears to telephone detectives, who then arranged for her to surrender herself.

He said: "There was some dialogue obviously through the public appeals made and the appeals of the family. We finally managed to get Paula to give us a ring.

Children safe

"Paula Sears and her two children went to the local hospital following a brief discussion with some of our officers from north Wales.

"The authorities went round there, confirmed the children were safe and well and took Paula and the children into custody. Later yesterday (Monday) evening Kevin Jones was arrested."

Chief Inspector Shaw said both Ms Sears and Mr Jones would appear before the local magistrate and, subject to that hearing, a judge in Madrid.

He said: "They'll be then given an opportunity to consent to extradition back to Wales or to appeal against extradition."

He said the children, who are be brought back to Wales by Flintshire social workers, seemed to be in "good health, fit and well".