Transcript

Gerry

Well in terms of the abduction of a foreign child in a foreign country is really very rare. The only case like this is certainly in British children, the only one we know of is Ben Needham, which was in 1991. So, thats sixteen years ago. So, that aspect is incredibly rare and speaking to people in Portugal and Spain, there not aware of any other EU Nationals having children abducted on the Iberian Peninsula. And you think about the tens and millions of tourists that come to Spain and Portugal every year. So, this really was a bolt out of the blue. Um in terms of whats happened to us, I think also the circumstances of a child being abducted from a bedroom are pretty rare as well.

I think what we definitely want to do is continue awareness in Europe you know Southern Europe Iberian Peninsula.

Kate

There are a few people who have said to us you know, too much publicity might not be good because somebody , whoever's got her might keep her hidden and obviously everything we are doing at the minute has a slight risk to it...which is a horrible situation to be in when you are dealing with your daughter, but over all we felt rather thnt sit back and do nothing , this was the way to go.

Gerry


We've done a lot of things on our own and clearly theres mixed signals from what could be done in terms of the North American experience.

Kate

Certainly, what Gerry learnt from (inaudible) Washington was by having an image out there was definitely the right thing to do. One in six children that are recovered is because somebody recognised them from a poster and the laws in the States are very different to here and again well ahead of the game...they've got their Amber Alert...you know within two hours of a child being taken a police report has to be filed....you know and um obviously the response time in Europe has to be quicker . it has to be quicker.

Gerry

But the problem is that and this applies to the child pornography laws as well, is that if you make regulation tight in one country, the perpetrators dont know any boundaries and they move to a country where legislation is less tight. So, you might be exporting your problem and um why it has to happen , international dimention and thats why the laws need tightening up not just in the UK and U.S. or anywhere else its where children can be abused or likely to be abused.