A 12-year-old girl held "hostage" in an international tug-of-love is being hailed a hero after she rebelled against her captors and won their freedom.
Sisters Carene Crofts, 12, and Shelby, 11, were snatched from their home during an access visit with their mother Trudy on 16th August.
Their grandmother and legal guardian Rita Astbury was devastated when she learned the vulnerable girls were being held captive with a family of strangers in Morocco.
The pair has been taken to the city of Fez by Trudy Crofts, 32, where they were kept at the home of the ageing parents of Trudy's Moroccan waiter boyfriend Sam Zaroli.
British courts, the police and UK Government authorities appeared powerless to end the ordeal for the youngsters, but a breakthrough came when Carene defied her captors and made a break for freedom.
She had a row with the arab man who was the head of the household and dashed out of the house - pursued down the street by the man brandishing a slipper.
She ran into the arms of English-speaking neighbours who reported the incident to the authorities in Fez and the local police became involved.
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