D Tel: Mother abducted five-year-old daughter and fled to America in tug-of-love battle
Muggle
love battle
A mother has abducted her five-year-old daughter and is believed to
have fled to America in a bitter tug-of-love battle.
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Daily Telegraph
Published: 11:20PM GMT 16 Dec 2009
Helen Gavaghan, 32, secretly snatched her daughter Pearl from nursery
in Blackpool last December and fled abroad having changed her name by
deed poll, after an acrimonious split from her partner, Henry Da
Massa.
A High Court judge has declared that the child was removed illegally
and allowed details of the case to be disclosed for the first time in
the hope the pair can be traced.
Mr Da Massa, who had a shared custody agreement with Miss Gavaghan,
has been desperately searching for the pair for the past year and has
launched a website to appeal for help.
An international search is underway for the mother and child, led by
Interpol, the US State Department and British police.
Pearl was last seen at the Old Moat Nursery in Withington, Manchester,
on December 1 last year when she was collected by her mother.
They travelled to Cancun, Mexico, a week later – travelling on a
passport under the mother’s new name, Meta International.
Checks have confirmed that they entered the US on 30th December,
crossing into Texas on foot at the US border town of Laredo.
Neither have been seen or heard from since.
Police in Blackpool, where Mrs Gavaghan lived, found what appeared to
be a forged court order at her former home, wrongly indicating sole
custody of Pearl. Apart from changing her name she also withdrew a
large amount of cash before fleeing abroad.
It is understood the couple had been living apart for some years prior
to Pearl's disappearance.
She had been made the subject of a Shared Residence Order of the
Manchester County Court in July 2008 by Judge Iain Hamilton in favour
of both parents. It came after a bitter battle in the family courts
over the course of several years.
Hearings about her abduction have been taking place in secret in the
High Court, where a judge has declared that Pearl’s removal was
unlawful.
In a statement on his website -- missingpearl.co.uk -- Mr Da Massa
said that investigations by himself and police have shown that Miss
Gavaghan went to “great lengths to cover her tracks following the
removal of Pearl and had no intention of returning home”.
He added: “Pearl should now be in full-time education and may still be
in need of medical attention. It is also possible that Helen may be in
need of support in dealing with the upbringing of Pearl.
“Pearl is now five-and-a-half old and this will be her second
Christmas away from home. There is a great deal of concern for both
Pearl and Helen.”
Mr Da Massa was unable to comment directly on the case because of the
restrictions made by the High Court.
Det Sgt Shaun Simpson, the officer leading the hunt on behalf of
Greater Manchester Police, said: "There has been an acrimonious split
between the mother and father which resulted in Pearl being taken
overseas."
An entry on the Interpol missing children online database gives the
girl’s full name as Pearl Rose Gavaghan Da Massa, says that she has
light brown hair, green eyes and a small scar beneath her lower lip.
It is one of the most high profile international tug-of-love cases
since that of Molly Campbell, a 12-year-old schoolgirl who was removed
illegally from her mother’s home in the Western Isles to live with her
father in Pakistan.
Louise Campbell admitted defeat in 2007 after a five-month battle to
bring Molly back to Scotland and agreed an out-of-court settlement
with her ex- husband.
It stipulated that Mrs Campbell could have access to the teenager only
by visiting Pakistan, where she lived with her father, Sajad Rana, and
her sister and two brothers in Lahore.