A CORK BASED mother whose two children were abducted by her French husband said she is convinced French authorities will give her custody at a court hearing in Marseilles next month.
Ms Catherine Hughes, married to Mr Claud Blanc, who is in his 50s, said she had brought up their twins, Clint and Cheryl, now four, in Glengarriff, Co Cork, since they were toddlers, despite her husband's reservations about his son and daughter growing up in "Europe's Third World."
The family had holidays together in Majorca this summer, but Mr Blanc arranged for his wife to stay on while he returned to Ireland with the children. He was to meet her at Cork Airport on July 23rd, but when she arrived he was not there, and she had to call a friend to drive her to Glengarriff. On arrival at the family home, she found that Mr Blanc and the children were missing.
Yesterday, Ms Hughes said she had been in touch with the French authorities and had been assured that in accordance with international conventions, the French government felt the children had been abducted and they should be returned to the Irish jurisdiction. This view, she added, was expected to be upheld at a formal custody hearing in Marseilles on October 17th.
But Mr Blanc and the twins have not been seen since they sailed from Cork on a Brittany Ferries vessel on July 13th. While he has telephoned her on a number of occasions, he has refused to say where he is or to allow her speak to the children. French police, who are sympathetic, have called to Mr Blanc's relatives at various locations in France but failed to locate him or the children. Gardai have contacted Interpol, which is liaising with the French authorities.
Ms Hughes said she believed the family holiday in Majorca was a front for her husband's plan to remove the children to France.