News

Thirty children each year are abducted by their own, estranged parents and taken abroad, according to figures from the Scottish executive.

At the end of February, the executive is to launch a high profile campaign along with Scottish police forces and Reunite, the UK-wide organisation which works to bring abducted children back into the country. The campaign will release child abduction awareness packs giving guidelines on relevant international law, and an instruction pack on using British laws to prevent child abduction.

Denise Carter, director of Reunite, said: "Since we began giving support and advice seven years ago we have seen a 107 per cent increase in the number of cases. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. We know there are many, many more cases that we are not involved in."