:00:03. > :00:07.Hello. Tonight, Inside Out East Midlands is at Sawley Marina, in
:00:07. > :00:11.Leicestershire. In the next half- hour. Aamina vanished when she was
:00:11. > :00:14.six, but she was not abducted by a stranger, she was taken by her
:00:14. > :00:17.mother. It is like a bereavement because
:00:17. > :00:23.the child has completely disappeared and you've got no
:00:23. > :00:29.control over that. Also tonight, on board the
:00:29. > :00:35.Leicestershire little ships. This is not likely to happen again.
:00:35. > :00:39.Oh, yes, just to be part of such a wonderful celebration!
:00:39. > :00:49.And the Lincolnshire air crews on the front line of the Cuban missile
:00:49. > :00:58.
:00:58. > :01:04.Each year, more than 140,000 children go missing here in the UK,
:01:04. > :01:06.that is one every three minutes. The problem is mainly runaway
:01:06. > :01:12.teenagers, but a Leicester charity says a growing number of children
:01:12. > :01:15.are being abducted by someone they know and trust, their mum or dad.
:01:15. > :01:25.And sometimes, the parents left behind never see their son or
:01:25. > :01:33.
:01:33. > :01:43.Scrawled in her school notebook, shortly before she disappeared, six
:01:43. > :01:45.
:01:45. > :01:48.year-old Aamina Khan's message is clear. She loves her dad very much.
:01:48. > :01:58.But now she is almost certainly living 5,000 miles away, with her
:01:58. > :01:58.
:01:58. > :02:01.mum Humma in Pakistan. Safraz Khan feels he may never see her again.
:02:01. > :02:10.He was granted custody following a divorce, but while Aamina was
:02:10. > :02:14.staying with her mum for a few days, they both went missing.
:02:14. > :02:17.It is the worst feeling ever, it is like a bereavement. I am dealing
:02:17. > :02:19.with that loss, even though she is still alive somewhere, but it is
:02:19. > :02:29.like a bereavement because the child has completely disappeared
:02:29. > :02:36.
:02:36. > :02:46.Aamina is now seven. At home, her bedroom has been left just as it
:02:46. > :02:49.
:02:50. > :02:55.It is difficult to come into this room and most of the time, I just
:02:55. > :02:58.keep the door locked, other than the cat sleeping here. Her toys and
:02:58. > :03:08.birthday presents have been left unopened since it was her birthday
:03:08. > :03:11.Safraz and his family have been to Pakistan five times to try to find
:03:11. > :03:14.Aamina. There is an agreement between the United Kingdom and
:03:14. > :03:22.Pakistan designed to return children to the rightful parent,
:03:22. > :03:24.but Safraz says the authorities have been unhelpful.
:03:24. > :03:27.Unfortunately, Pakistan has this reputation of being a corrupt
:03:27. > :03:34.country and, in most cases, I've been asked to pay money to recover
:03:34. > :03:38.my daughter. I've contacted some law firms in Pakistan, but they say,
:03:38. > :03:43.our fee is this, but we need more money to pay the police separately.
:03:43. > :03:46.Otherwise, we are not going to search for your daughter. We all
:03:47. > :03:56.miss her still and I will not give up searching for my daughter, I
:03:57. > :04:04.
:04:04. > :04:14.Jamila Riyami prays five times a day and each time, she begs Allah
:04:14. > :04:16.
:04:16. > :04:21.to return her son to her. She has old video footage of her son, Dodi.
:04:21. > :04:27.Until recently, she only had one photograph. It is five years since
:04:27. > :04:37.she last saw him. Part of me is numb now, is dead, I
:04:37. > :04:37.
:04:37. > :04:43.am a half walking dead person. I am not myself any more. I don't seem
:04:43. > :04:49.to trust anybody. It just appears to me that I have lost a big world
:04:49. > :04:52.of mine because of that. Dodi was born in Sweden. After her
:04:52. > :04:58.relationship with her husband broke down, she noticed that Dodi
:04:58. > :05:02.sometimes returned from his father's care bruised and in pain.
:05:02. > :05:05.She decided to take him to England. Under the Hague Convention, a court
:05:05. > :05:10.forced her to return to Sweden, because she had not sought her ex-
:05:10. > :05:17.husband's permission. There, she was arrested and jailed for six
:05:17. > :05:24.months. But after she was released, Dodi and his father disappeared.
:05:24. > :05:28.As a parent, you hear voices every day that he is calling you. And
:05:28. > :05:34.somebody's kid is calling them and you wish it was him. When he's not
:05:34. > :05:38.well, you don't know whether he needs you there. When he's thirsty,
:05:38. > :05:44.you won't be there to give him a drink. Every day, it is in my head,
:05:44. > :05:47.yes, it is hard. Jamila had almost given up, but
:05:47. > :05:54.then she typed her son's name into her Facebook account and there he
:05:54. > :05:58.was, now 14 years old and living in America.
:05:58. > :06:04.I just clicked the name, I just felt it, a mother's instinct.
:06:04. > :06:08.Clicked the name, and here he comes. And I burst into tears, all the way
:06:08. > :06:11.to the police station. I found my son, I found my son on the
:06:11. > :06:18.internet! She sends messages to Dodi, but
:06:18. > :06:22.most go unanswered. On Mother's Day, she received a reply.
:06:22. > :06:30.He sent me that particular e-mail and he said that, yes, I am still
:06:30. > :06:40.in his heart. He is throwing me a heart and he says, for a special
:06:40. > :06:41.
:06:41. > :06:49.Terri Harman, who specialises in international law, has now started
:06:49. > :06:52.proceedings with American courts to try to get access for Jamila.
:06:52. > :06:59.We are in the process of making an application in the American courts
:06:59. > :07:02.for Jamila to meet her son and be reunited with him. The difficulties
:07:02. > :07:04.are that if father objects to that, we then have to look for
:07:04. > :07:14.professionals, court welfare officers, to intervene and assist
:07:14. > :07:16.
:07:16. > :07:20.Reunite is a charity based in Leicester, which advises parents of
:07:20. > :07:29.abducted children. The latest figures show a 50 per cent increase
:07:29. > :07:32.in UK abductions, due mainly to a growing number of separations. Its
:07:32. > :07:36.director says that while parents suffer when their child disappears,
:07:36. > :07:39.the child is ultimately the biggest victim.
:07:39. > :07:47.They have not been able to say goodbye to their family and their
:07:47. > :07:50.friends. And in the worst-case scenarios, they lose all contact
:07:50. > :07:53.with the left-behind parent, and that has got to have a devastating
:07:53. > :07:57.effect on a child. The number of abductions is rising,
:07:57. > :08:01.as more and more couples separate. A decade ago, two out of three
:08:01. > :08:11.abductors were men. Now two in three are women.
:08:11. > :08:11.
:08:12. > :08:14.Parents have spoken to us about the health implications. There has been
:08:14. > :08:18.heart attacks, nervous breakdowns, they have slid into depression. In
:08:18. > :08:21.child abduction, there are absolutely no winners whatsoever.
:08:21. > :08:28.It was to Reunite that Linda Chapman turned 12 years ago when
:08:28. > :08:31.her son Cihan was illegally smuggled to Turkey by his father.
:08:31. > :08:35.The charity and the police worked tirelessly to get him back, but it
:08:35. > :08:40.took four years. This was the day he returned, confused, clinging to
:08:40. > :08:48.an embassy official. He had all but forgotten his mother, who is behind
:08:48. > :08:53.him. Now they are close. At the beginning, I did not used to
:08:53. > :08:56.feel like I knew him and I think he felt the same about me. He had
:08:56. > :09:00.lived with his father and he indoctrinated things into his head
:09:00. > :09:05.to make him think I was not a good person. But now Cihan sees it
:09:05. > :09:10.different now and he loves me, and I love him. But it is a hard
:09:10. > :09:12.journey, even when you get your children back.
:09:13. > :09:21.Safraz is planning more trips to Pakistan, as he continues his
:09:21. > :09:27.search for Aamina. And as yet, Jamila's prayers remain unanswered.
:09:27. > :09:30.I have said to myself at night that he will be back in my life. It is
:09:30. > :09:35.going to be an endless night. I will watch and sleeping and I will
:09:35. > :09:39.stay with him the whole night. That is what I promise myself.
:09:39. > :09:43.I love my daughter so much, and my daughter was so happy, and I want
:09:43. > :09:47.her home back in the UK. She is a British National, she is not
:09:47. > :09:51.Pakistani. I will not give up searching for my daughter, I can't.
:09:51. > :09:54.Don't give up, don't despair. You will have sleepless nights and
:09:54. > :09:59.sometimes wonder whether you should give up because of things you read
:09:59. > :10:03.and what happens. But fight to the end, because your children want
:10:03. > :10:05.that. They want to be with Mum, they want to be with Dad.
:10:05. > :10:08.Changes in international law, due to be introduced on November the
:10:08. > :10:11.1st, will force governments to co- operate more on child abduction,
:10:11. > :10:21.but many countries still ignore the Hague Convention and every day,
:10:21. > :10:25.
:10:25. > :10:27.more children are being used as Now, if there was ever any doubt
:10:27. > :10:31.about Britain's Britishness, the summer proved how patriotic we can
:10:31. > :10:35.be. And for a group of Leicestershire boat owners, it
:10:35. > :10:38.really was their chance to shine, even though the sun didn't! Our
:10:38. > :10:48.reporter joined them, as they set sail to take part in the Thames
:10:48. > :10:52.The crowds cheered, the rain fell and the Royal barge weaved its way
:10:53. > :10:59.along the Thames. 1,000 boats from all over Britain arrived in London
:10:59. > :11:02.to celebrate the Jubilee. And in the middle of it all, a handful of
:11:02. > :11:11.little ships. These are their stories, from Leicestershire to
:11:11. > :11:17.So have a wonderful trip, Eric, and I am delighted to present you with
:11:17. > :11:21.the flag. If I can get it up the right way!
:11:21. > :11:25.It's going to take a while to get through Nottingham, let alone round
:11:25. > :11:29.the coast and into the Thames, but I'm sure he will do it.
:11:29. > :11:32.It is an extremely big day and we are all very proud of Eric and the
:11:32. > :11:35.boat going to London. Absolutely marvellous!
:11:35. > :11:39.For most people wanting to go from Leicestershire to London by water,
:11:39. > :11:42.the quickest way is straight down the canal, for about a week or so.
:11:42. > :11:46.But your journey is not quite so easy, is it?
:11:46. > :11:50.No, because of the beam and the depth, and the size of this craft,
:11:51. > :11:53.it will not go through the narrow canals. And that means I have to go
:11:53. > :11:56.down the River Soar, the River Trent, from Nottingham, Newark, go
:11:57. > :12:03.through Lincoln, and then we go down the East Coast, and then into
:12:03. > :12:06.the Thames. You've got some real tricky bits
:12:06. > :12:16.coming up, actually. Yes.
:12:16. > :12:30.
:12:30. > :12:38.A slightly younger crew is heading to the capital, too.
:12:38. > :12:43.Under their own steam, in a rowing boat called Discovery.
:12:43. > :12:48.It is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Really exciting, especially to do
:12:48. > :12:55.it with my best friend. Really excited! And we are representing
:12:55. > :13:04.Leicester. It is something to be proud of.
:13:04. > :13:07.I just can't believe we have been chosen to do it. It is brilliant.
:13:07. > :13:14.Elsewhere in the county, paint pots are out and a dress rehearsal is
:13:14. > :13:20.under way. It is another rowing boat, but this launch could not be
:13:20. > :13:24.more different. We are in a farmer's barn. This is
:13:24. > :13:30.a bespoke vessel that you have built from scratch. What, exactly,
:13:30. > :13:34.is it? It is a ship's boat from 1805. This
:13:34. > :13:38.is the kind of boat that would be used to supply the ships of
:13:38. > :13:42.Nelson's navy. How easy is it to handle on the
:13:42. > :13:50.tens? Quite tricky, because there are so
:13:50. > :13:56.many other boats. We have got 250 other rowing boats. They will be
:13:56. > :14:00.kind behind us. But you have really got the bug for
:14:00. > :14:06.building historic boats. We have got other projects in the
:14:06. > :14:11.pipeline. We are talking about steam power next.
:14:11. > :14:17.Back on Eric's boat, St George, the journey is well under way. But it
:14:17. > :14:22.has not been plain sailing. Big boats and narrow waterways make
:14:22. > :14:29.navigation tricky, and road bridges are an obstacle and a hazard.
:14:29. > :14:35.the back of my head there! The alternator her stop working,
:14:35. > :14:41.for some reason. We want to get that fixed.
:14:41. > :14:46.I fell over. I fell over the mast. It was still on the deck. It was
:14:47. > :14:52.quite a big fall, actually. Despite the problems and an injured
:14:52. > :14:56.shipmate, error remains upbeat in - - Eric remains upbeat and on
:14:56. > :15:00.schedule. You have to not expect things to go
:15:00. > :15:04.wrong, but it prepares you for thinking on your feet.
:15:05. > :15:09.This is going to be the trickiest obstacle on the route. The weather
:15:09. > :15:13.is not helping. It is not. The wind is going to be
:15:13. > :15:20.the worst part. I have got to try and keep it dead straight.
:15:20. > :15:25.Once you have committed, there's no going back. Not without difficulty.
:15:25. > :15:29.The medieval bridge running under Lincoln is testing Erik's talent
:15:29. > :15:39.and getting St George through is a squeeze.
:15:39. > :15:42.
:15:42. > :15:49.Eric's next spot is Boston before heading out to sea. That is where
:15:49. > :15:56.we join our final little ship, with a heroic history. Its owners are
:15:56. > :16:02.John and Margaret Hoskins. They have got a lovely feel about
:16:02. > :16:08.them. They are a warm boat. They can tell so many stories.
:16:09. > :16:12.Thousands of ships went to Dunkirk to get the troops off the beaches.
:16:12. > :16:17.This one is still alive tell the tale.
:16:17. > :16:23.Today, she is being lifted out of the water for a rest and they
:16:23. > :16:31.repaint. The Little Ships of Dunkirk were
:16:31. > :16:36.700 private boats that sailed from the coast to rescue our troops from
:16:36. > :16:41.French beaches. 72 years later, a few dozen are joining forces as
:16:41. > :16:47.part of the pageant. How much work has gone into making
:16:47. > :16:53.sure she shipshape? Many, many weekends to get her way
:16:53. > :16:58.-- her ready, but the weather has held it back. At the end of the day,
:16:58. > :17:03.you can only use the hours you have. When she is in the water, I can do
:17:03. > :17:11.it in there. On the water, she is fine.
:17:11. > :17:15.Hopefully she is watertight. Hope Back on St George, Eric gets lucky
:17:15. > :17:19.with the weather, and it is only when he enters an Essex estuary
:17:19. > :17:23.that things get rough. If you think about it, when this is
:17:24. > :17:32.over and you are having a nice car hot shower and a pint, you will
:17:32. > :17:37.think, what a fabulous day. I hope. We are cruising past a real
:17:37. > :17:41.landmark, meaning you have arrived on the Thames river.
:17:41. > :17:47.Yes, and what a journey it has been. We have broken a few pots and pans,
:17:47. > :17:53.but otherwise OK. It is the roughest water that this
:17:53. > :17:59.boat has ever been in while I have owned it.
:17:59. > :18:04.I just felt quite emotional. I don't know, I just... I had a few
:18:04. > :18:12.tears, actually, because I was overwhelmed. I'm delighted for Eric.
:18:12. > :18:17.It is something he never dreamed of. Now, well, it is just wonderful.
:18:17. > :18:24.The day was tremendous. Shame about the weather. Everybody said it. But
:18:24. > :18:33.we had a fantastic time. It was so memorable. I shall never forget it.
:18:33. > :18:40.To do that for the Queen was indescribable.
:18:40. > :18:44.It is the best rowing experience I have had to date. It topped
:18:44. > :18:49.everything, weighing two Kate and going under the bridge to the
:18:49. > :18:56.Houses of Parliament - you don't get that experience normally.
:18:56. > :19:03.To doff your hat in salute to a lovely lady and think we were
:19:03. > :19:07.representing Leicestershire. We are cold, wet, but very happy.
:19:07. > :19:11.What an adventure, and something they were certainly never forget.
:19:11. > :19:16.50 years ago this month, the world was on the brink of nuclear war. It
:19:16. > :19:19.was known as the Cuban missile crisis. What the British public
:19:19. > :19:25.didn't know it was that if Russia had attacked, aircrews here would
:19:25. > :19:35.have been on the front line. We have uncovered the story of secret
:19:35. > :19:35.
:19:36. > :19:41.operations to launch Britain's It is a summer's day and the crowds
:19:41. > :19:47.are out for the annual aviation showcase.
:19:47. > :19:53.Back in October 1962, it was home to the Vulcan bombers of the RAF's
:19:53. > :20:03.V-Force. Today it is hosting a show. But we would have none of this if
:20:03. > :20:06.
:20:06. > :20:11.events 50 years ago had taken a Within the past week, unmistakable
:20:11. > :20:16.evidence has established the facts that a series of offensive missile
:20:16. > :20:19.sites I'm preparation... I the Cuban missile crisis was the
:20:19. > :20:23.closest we got to start in World War Three.
:20:23. > :20:27.Russia had placed weapons in Cuba and aimed doughnut America. They
:20:27. > :20:33.were not scared off by the Americans setting up a blockade.
:20:33. > :20:37.There seemed only one conclusion. We were potentially minutes away
:20:37. > :20:43.from nuclear war, and the first bomb of this terrible conflict
:20:43. > :20:48.could have been launched not from Cuba but from here, in Lincolnshire.
:20:48. > :20:51.In 1962, if we had launched a nuclear bomb towards Russia, the
:20:51. > :20:56.weapon would have began its journey in the east of England.
:20:56. > :21:05.Lincolnshire was important for deterrent purposes in the cold war.
:21:05. > :21:09.The act of the bombers carried the nuclear weapon. -- in the V-bombers.
:21:09. > :21:15.Towards the time of the Cuban missile crisis, it was getting very
:21:15. > :21:18.hot. A group of aviation historians in
:21:18. > :21:23.Lincolnshire collecting first-hand accounts of the Cuba crisis are
:21:23. > :21:28.finding that some of them don't quite match the version on file.
:21:28. > :21:34.We found out that in the official record, bomber Command were put on
:21:35. > :21:39.to alert condition 3 at 1pm on the Saturday. Talking to people, they
:21:39. > :21:45.say they can remember that on the Thursday prior, things were already
:21:45. > :21:52.happening. It doesn't tally that some of the timeline seems not to
:21:52. > :21:56.accord to the official version. The records say we were on alert
:21:57. > :22:01.from the Saturday, but did we actually do this much earlier? We
:22:01. > :22:11.have come to another airfield, Newark, the kit for people who were
:22:11. > :22:16.
:22:16. > :22:21.on duty that week. -- looking for We were watching television. A
:22:21. > :22:27.shadow across the winner, I knock on the door, and it was a British
:22:27. > :22:32.policeman. He was sent to hoist me out, to tell me to go to work. I
:22:32. > :22:36.said, what for, Constable? He said, and I can't emulate the accent, he
:22:36. > :22:44.said, if you don't know, sir, I can't tell you.
:22:44. > :22:46.The ground crew were generating airplanes as fast as I could. We
:22:46. > :22:52.gradually were up to seven by the Saturday.
:22:52. > :22:57.I quickly dressed in uniform, kissed my wife, and said, if you
:22:57. > :23:02.hear us take off, you go, take the kids and go. And then I left.
:23:02. > :23:08.The official accounts say Saturday, but American records show that two
:23:08. > :23:15.days Ella, ballasted missiles were being made ready. -- ballistic
:23:15. > :23:20.missiles. This was once RAF Harrington. Here
:23:20. > :23:24.in Lincolnshire is the only place in the UK where there are remains
:23:24. > :23:31.of the nuclear missiles. There were three launch pads. These
:23:31. > :23:40.huge blast off protected -- blast walls protected the personnel from
:23:40. > :23:48.the Atwal launch. -- the actual launch. Down here, there was a
:23:48. > :23:58.hangar, which run on rails. When the missile was at risk, as it were,
:23:58. > :24:06.
:24:06. > :24:10.This was a line a first defence for America. Indeed, one of the only
:24:10. > :24:16.ways, at that stage, that they could target missiles on Soviet
:24:16. > :24:19.Russia. It made us here are very vulnerable.
:24:19. > :24:29.Because thaw was controlled by Britain and America, when America
:24:29. > :24:30.
:24:30. > :24:38.went on a lot -- alert, so did we. Kennedy alerted the command to
:24:38. > :24:48.stage three, which was two stated before war.
:24:48. > :24:52.
:24:52. > :24:56.This was without the knowledge of By the Saturday, two days on, it
:24:57. > :25:01.was deadlock between the Americans and Russians. We, officially, went
:25:02. > :25:09.on alert. Unbeknown to the public, throughout the East of England,
:25:09. > :25:16.missiles and crews were waiting, weapons loaded.
:25:16. > :25:26.They won five minutes' notice. -- they were on. Every time a deep
:25:26. > :25:26.
:25:26. > :25:31.tan I went, -- every time the Tannoy went, we came to attention.
:25:31. > :25:38.We had studied our targets, we knew what to do. We knew that if we had
:25:38. > :25:46.to scramble, the politicians would have lost control of the situation.
:25:46. > :25:49.I joined the Air Force to fly. There I was, in the wind and rain,
:25:49. > :25:57.arming actual nuclear weapons, which was slightly different.
:25:57. > :26:03.We were sitting there chatting, and my dear friend Paul, he suddenly
:26:03. > :26:11.got up and ambled over towards the aircraft, pulled a pencil out of
:26:12. > :26:20.his pocket and did a CND badge on the side of the bomb. I said, what
:26:20. > :26:30.did you do that for? He said, if we have to drop that, those people
:26:30. > :26:30.
:26:30. > :26:34.British people were worried about the crisis in Cuba, but still had
:26:34. > :26:38.been told nothing of how war operations would be no for made
:26:38. > :26:44.closer to home. This was a deliberate ploy by the Prime
:26:45. > :26:48.Minister. Macmillan was concerned that any
:26:48. > :26:55.overt information might itself lead to war. He was concerned that the
:26:55. > :27:00.British public should not panic. Therefore, although the UK was very
:27:00. > :27:05.vulnerable at this point, Macmillan felt he wanted to try to keep the
:27:05. > :27:09.country on the sidelines. In fact, many people would have thought we
:27:09. > :27:13.were in the front line. Do you think he got it right?
:27:13. > :27:19.In the event, he could argue that he did. Had things gone wrong, I'm
:27:19. > :27:24.not sure those he -- who remained alive would have thanked him for it.
:27:24. > :27:30.In the event, Macmillan's gamble worked. The Russian ships were
:27:30. > :27:35.turned back and normal Cold War relations were resumed.
:27:35. > :27:41.When we heard that the Soviet ships had stopped and then turned back,
:27:41. > :27:44.it was a very big sigh of relief. The tension had really built up. It
:27:45. > :27:54.was a great big peak, and we did not know what was going to happen.
:27:55. > :27:59.
:27:59. > :28:04.After the Cuba crisis, we rewrote the war books. The four sides were
:28:04. > :28:09.already earmarked for closure. Never again would report back to
:28:09. > :28:14.the same level of alert. But it is the first and accounts of
:28:14. > :28:24.these men that will remind us just how close we came to war.
:28:24. > :28:29.
:28:29. > :28:34.-- first hand accounts. Look at That is it for this week. We are
:28:34. > :28:37.back next Monday. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.