Rebecca Minnock has come out of hiding 17 days after she vanished with her three-year-old son Ethan during a bitter custody battle.
Hours after a close family friend claimed he and Minnock had hatched the plan for her to vanish in order to generate publicity for her legal fight, she made contact with police.
DCI Marie Wright, who has led the investigation, said: “This is the news we had been hoping for and I am grateful to Becky for coming forward. Both Becky and Ethan will now receive the support they need and the appropriate welfare arrangements will be made. I would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance throughout this investigation.”
Minnock was hiding out in the Thames Valley area.
Before she contacted the police, Minnock spoke to and was photographed by the Daily Mail. She said: “It wasn’t fair to Ethan. He just had to go home ... My only regret would be the trouble my family have gotten into, all the police efforts and time I’ve wasted.”
She said Ethan had enjoyed the trip: “He actually thinks we’ve been on holiday. He’s enjoyed his time, he’s managed to go swimming, we’ve been to the parks, we’ve stuck to his normal routine.
“He’s been safe and happy and I don’t have any regrets because I’ve spent so much more time with him than I would’ve been able to,” she said.
However, he had been asking about other family members and talking about getting back to his own bed. “I feel that my time has run out now,” she told the newspaper. “I hope somebody will be able to help us to get this case looked into again.”
It was an extraordinary climax to an very unusual and public custody battle. To help find Minnock, a high court judge lifted restrictions, meaning details of the breakdown of Minnock’s relationship with Ethan’s father, Roger Williams, could be reported in full.
Minnock broke cover hours after her mother and a close friend were jailed for lying about what a judge called a “wicked” plot to go into hiding to generate publicity for her custody battle.
As police and court officials continued to search for the pair, Minnock’s mother, Louise Minnock, and her partner, Andrew Butt, were both found to be in contempt of court by lying about the circumstances of the woman’s disappearance.
Before they were sentenced – Louise Minnock for 10 days and Butt for 28 – Butt appealed for Minnock to turn herself in, accepting the case had become “too big”.
Addressing Minnock, Butt said: “It’s massive. There’s no hiding no more. You can’t run forever. Everyone in the country knows about it. Where do you run to? You need to come home. It’s over.”
The judge overseeing the effort to find mother and child made a direct appeal to Minnock for her to return, promising that: “Everything possible will be done to ensure that Ethan has an effective relationship with both of his parents.” Police also urged Minnock to turn herself in, also warning that it was impossible for her to hide forever and pledging help for her.
Minnock fled from her home in Highbridge, Somerset, following a two-year battle for custody on 27 May – the morning of a hearing at which she believed a court would decide Ethan, three, should live with his father. Police have been searching for mother and son since.
Earlier this week the judge, Stephen Wildblood QC, took the very unusual step of allowing family court proceedings to be reported in full to publicise the hunt for the pair. Detectives have investigated possible sightings of Minnock, 35, in Cheltenham and the West Midlands and she has twice contacted tabloid newspapers to describe why she left and how she feels.
During a dramatic day at Bristol crown court, lorry driver Butt admitted he had earlier lied when he said in court he had not helped Minnock flee.
In fact, Butt claimed he and Minnock had plotted her flight the night before she vanished. “She said she couldn’t stand the thought of losing Ethan,” he said. “She asked if I would help her get away. I said yes.”
They met shortly after 8am on 27 May, Butt told the court. He said she drew out £300 from a cashpoint and they drove her to Cheltenham, where Minnock has family. Butt said he dropped her off at a road junction near a park and told her: “Keep running ... keep moving”.
Butt added: “The plan was to keep her away for as long as possible and generate as much publicity as possible.” He said Minnock felt people weren’t listening to her. “I said the press will be involved when you go missing. Then people will listen.” Asked if they were deliberately using the press, he replied: “Yes.” Butt said they had succeeded. “We have got what we wanted to achieve. We have got the press, we have got the newspapers. Maybe we can make a stronger case. It’s the way we planned it and the way it has worked out.”
Wildblood pointed out to Butt that the courts had looked very carefully at Minnock’s case and at claims she had made against Ethan’s father, Roger Williams, and had concluded she had made up false allegations to frustrate contact between him and his son.
The judge described the plan to use the press as “wicked” and asked him what impact the sort of action Minnock had taken must have on children. “They get hurt,” Butt replied. The judge asked him what would happen if everyone behaved in such a way. “Chaos, anarchy,” Butt replied.
Butt also admitted in court that he had told Louise Minnock he had taken her daughter to Cheltenham. Louise Minnock had previously denied in court any knowledge of where her daughter had gone. The judge ruled this also amounted to contempt.
Sentencing Butt and Louise Minnock, the judge said: “This is not a game. It is an extremely serious case about the welfare of a three year old boy.” He said both had deliberately obstructed the efforts to find Minnock.
