:00:02. > :00:08.Tonight we have a special investigation about a woman's fight
:00:08. > :00:13.to be reunited with her children. Sam Raw lost contact with her two
:00:13. > :00:17.boys after they were held in France by their father. There is me
:00:17. > :00:25.praying it is going to go well and they're going to pass me Austin,
:00:25. > :00:32.but they don't. The number of abducted children is
:00:32. > :00:34.on the increase and some never fully recover from the experience.
:00:34. > :00:39.I was incredibly distressed, I thought constantly about ending my
:00:39. > :00:44.life. We show what happened when Sam
:00:44. > :00:48.tried to rescue her children from France. Just keep driving and hope
:00:48. > :00:58.I see somewhere I recognise. That's our special investigation on
:00:58. > :01:09.
:01:09. > :01:13.Two years ago, Sam Raw's sons, Dylan and Austin, were abducted by
:01:13. > :01:16.their French father. The highest courts in Britain and France
:01:16. > :01:21.ordered the children should be returned to their mother. But their
:01:21. > :01:31.father has refused to hand them back. Sam hasn't given up and this
:01:31. > :01:36.
:01:36. > :01:40.summer we followed her as she It doesn't feel like real life. All
:01:40. > :01:50.of a sudden I went from family life to a life of grief and strife, you
:01:50. > :01:53.
:01:53. > :01:57.know? In one day. The day the children didn't come back.
:01:57. > :02:04.Sam Raw who now lives in Norfolk, moved to France with her parents
:02:04. > :02:07.when she was 16. I went to college there and I
:02:07. > :02:14.became an English teacher and worked in a school in an
:02:14. > :02:19.apprenticeship college teaching. And that was where I met Thierry
:02:19. > :02:29.who was a panel beater, teaching panel beating in the same school.
:02:29. > :02:30.
:02:30. > :02:34.And we got married and had two children, Dylan and Austin.
:02:34. > :02:38.Both the boys are now wards of court. Legally this is the only
:02:38. > :02:43.picture of them we are allowed to show. Sadly after a couple of years
:02:43. > :02:48.Sam's marriage ran into problems. Things deteriorated after about the
:02:48. > :02:56.first two years. We clung on for another three, but we came to a
:02:56. > :03:01.mutual decision divorce was inevitable.
:03:01. > :03:04.Sam went to court and was awarded custody of her two sons. The three
:03:04. > :03:06.of them moved to Norfolk, although it was agreed the boys would stay
:03:06. > :03:13.with their father during school holidays.
:03:13. > :03:18.The arrangements had been going very well for five years. He
:03:18. > :03:22.started to not want to bring the children back. I was then having to
:03:22. > :03:30.go to court to retrieve the children. It was getting more and
:03:30. > :03:35.more difficult for me to trust him to bring the children back.
:03:35. > :03:39.Things came to a head in the summer of 2008. Her former husband refused
:03:39. > :03:42.to hand the boys back. The High Court here in London and the
:03:42. > :03:46.highest courts in France have both ruled Sam's two sons should live
:03:46. > :03:56.with her. But her former husband has repeatedly ignored the court
:03:56. > :03:56.
:03:56. > :03:59.orders. HE SPEAKS FRENCH.
:03:59. > :04:05.Sam's ex- husband recently appeared in a French documentary about
:04:05. > :04:08.custody disputes. He insisted the two boys wanted to stay with him.
:04:09. > :04:16.But Sam says her former husband has deliberately tried to turn her
:04:16. > :04:26.children against her. The boys are so stiff, you know?
:04:26. > :04:27.
:04:27. > :04:30.Very rigid. It just breaks my heart to see that. I know for a fact he
:04:30. > :04:33.would sit the children opposite each other and make each other tell
:04:33. > :04:42.each other what negative things they could think up about their
:04:42. > :04:45.mother. Sam claims her sons are victims of
:04:45. > :04:48.parental child abduction. She says her husband poisoned the boys
:04:48. > :04:58.against her to the point they wouldn't even speak to her when she
:04:58. > :05:05.
:05:05. > :05:10.tried to call them. This is really sad. It's exactly
:05:10. > :05:14.how it's been every time I've tried to ring. And of course I'd ring and
:05:14. > :05:24.I'd feel nervous before ringing as well because I knew what was about
:05:24. > :05:26.
:05:26. > :05:33.to come. There's me just praying it is going
:05:33. > :05:43.to go well and they will pass me Austin, but they don't.
:05:43. > :05:44.
:05:44. > :05:50.Sam is very concerned about the emotional effect this could be
:05:50. > :05:53.having on the two boys, who are now both teenagers.
:05:53. > :05:56.To try to help understand what her children are going through
:05:56. > :06:00.emotionally, she's off to London to meet someone with first hand
:06:00. > :06:05.experience. Sam's battle to recover her two sons has also come at a
:06:05. > :06:11.high personal cost. I suffered depression, I was on
:06:11. > :06:21.medication for depression. I'm now on medication for post-traumatic
:06:21. > :06:21.
:06:21. > :06:24.stress disorder, and the prevention of depression returning. So it is a
:06:24. > :06:31.massive impact. The lengthy court battles have also
:06:31. > :06:37.taken their toll financially. It's cost me at least �40,000. I
:06:37. > :06:40.didn't have much money before, I was struggling before. But you have
:06:40. > :06:45.to pay for trips to France, a French lawyer and I've had to beg
:06:45. > :06:54.and borrow money from family and friends. I have two credit cards I
:06:54. > :06:57.have had to max out. We find the money somehow.
:06:57. > :07:02.Sam's meeting a woman who was abducted by her father when she was
:07:02. > :07:08.just 12 years old. She's hoping it will give her an insight as to what
:07:08. > :07:12.her own son's are going through. Hi, so nice to meet you.
:07:12. > :07:15.And you. When her parents relationship broke
:07:15. > :07:21.down, Nicky Hewitt and her younger sister were taken to Australia by
:07:21. > :07:28.their father. When I was in Australia I
:07:28. > :07:31.experienced a lot of propaganda from my father and his whole family.
:07:31. > :07:35.Actually telling us we wouldn't be wanted, telling me specifically I
:07:35. > :07:41.was unwanted, unloved and even if I went back to England I would be put
:07:41. > :07:45.into a children's home and stuff like that. That my mum didn't want
:07:45. > :07:51.me at all. Was there a point in Australia where you started to
:07:51. > :07:54.understand what was happening? Absolutely, I got it really quickly.
:07:55. > :08:03.I twigged very early on and as an adult looking back 21 years ago, I
:08:03. > :08:10.can see the manipulation that was going on. How did you cope, how did
:08:10. > :08:14.you get through it? Did you feel you had to go along with them?
:08:14. > :08:19.I went against them a lot. I fought and I made things difficult for
:08:19. > :08:23.people. What impact did this have on you at the time? Mentally I
:08:23. > :08:28.wasn't well. I wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping and I was
:08:28. > :08:33.incredibly distressed. I thought constantly about ending my life.
:08:33. > :08:40.What an awful position to be in at that age? At 12, and I made plans
:08:40. > :08:43.as to how to do it. The only reason I didn't was because of my sister.
:08:43. > :08:47.After a court hearing Nicky and her sister were finally returned to
:08:47. > :08:52.their mother in the UK. But even 20 years later Nicky is still
:08:52. > :08:55.struggling to come to terms with what happened.
:08:55. > :09:00.Not only do I have depression but I have post-traumatic stress disorder
:09:00. > :09:08.as a result of the abduction. And that's only been diagnosed in the
:09:08. > :09:11.past couple of years. There is a whole world of other difficulties I
:09:11. > :09:17.have been experiencing and not being able to make sense of them.
:09:17. > :09:21.Sam, you just had a chat with Nicky. How was it for you speaking to her
:09:21. > :09:29.as the abducted child? Very interesting. What a brave lady to
:09:29. > :09:35.come out of it. It has taken her a long time to recover. She is still
:09:35. > :09:40.in recovery. I have been trying to get into my children's minds, heads,
:09:40. > :09:50.to understand how they are feeling. Which is painful for me to do, and
:09:50. > :09:53.listening to Nicky has been a great insight.
:09:53. > :09:57.On the way home Sam told me that her custody battle intensified
:09:57. > :10:00.following a shocking incident just over two years ago. She went to
:10:00. > :10:03.collect her children from France at the end of the school holidays but
:10:03. > :10:09.the eldest, Dylan, was unexpectedly violent and punched her several
:10:09. > :10:17.times. Sam says her ex-husband had turned the boys against her. She
:10:17. > :10:20.came back from France distraught and alone.
:10:20. > :10:23.Courts recognise that children in cases like Sam's can be turned
:10:24. > :10:28.against a parent. So despite Dylan's violent outburst they've
:10:28. > :10:32.repeatedly ordered that Sam's children must be returned. After
:10:32. > :10:38.more than two years without seeing her boys, Sam had given up hope of
:10:38. > :10:42.a quick resolution. But then recently, events took a
:10:42. > :10:46.dramatic twist. Sam's younger son, Austin, contacted one of his
:10:46. > :10:53.English friends on Facebook. He had an important message for his mum -
:10:53. > :11:01.come and rescue me. My dad and my friend, Wendy, came
:11:01. > :11:04.with me. We set off from London. We travelled to France together and we
:11:04. > :11:12.were looking at how to navigate round Paris easily so we didn't get
:11:12. > :11:19.lost. The journey needed meticulous
:11:19. > :11:23.planning. Sam was worried the French authorities could scupper
:11:23. > :11:27.the escape. We had planned food and petrol for
:11:28. > :11:30.the car. So my dad actually got some money out, made sure we had
:11:30. > :11:36.enough cash for the return journey so the French authorities couldn't
:11:36. > :11:41.trace us. The planned rescue was fraught with
:11:41. > :11:44.risk. The foreign office here in the UK had warned Sam if the French
:11:44. > :11:47.authorities caught her trying to take Austin out of the country,
:11:47. > :11:57.potentially she could be arrested and Austin returned to his father,
:11:57. > :12:06.
:12:06. > :12:12.even though she had court orders in When we got to the village we
:12:12. > :12:15.decided to stop in the outskirts somewhere quiet. So we found a
:12:15. > :12:25.hotel car park and we had about three hours to wait in the car park
:12:25. > :12:28.
:12:28. > :12:31.before we got the call from Austin for the go-ahead. Whilst we were
:12:31. > :12:34.waiting in the car park, it occurred to us once outside the
:12:34. > :12:43.father's house he may be able to hear the car doors opening and
:12:43. > :12:50.closing. So we practised opening the car doors and closing them very
:12:50. > :12:55.quietly. We just wanted to make sure Austin remained safe, that he
:12:55. > :13:00.wasn't caught by his father. So we were doing everything possible we
:13:00. > :13:05.could to make sure that didn't happen. And also, I was desperately
:13:05. > :13:09.excited to see him. We needed to keep each other awake. We were very
:13:09. > :13:14.tired. We knew we would have a long journey back where we wouldn't be
:13:14. > :13:19.able to stop off and sleep but we still had to keep each other awake.
:13:19. > :13:29.So we sang songs, told each other jokes.
:13:29. > :13:30.
:13:30. > :13:33.We got a phone call from Austin's friend's mother who said Austin had
:13:33. > :13:42.sent a message saying can we wait another half an hour because his
:13:42. > :13:47.dad wasn't in bed yet. So we said OK, we sent the message back to let
:13:47. > :13:56.Austin know it would be fine, we would wait another half an hour. In
:13:56. > :14:06.that situation, we found ourselves having to sit on our own anxiety. I
:14:06. > :14:06.
:14:07. > :14:10.knew Austin would be much more anxious in his situation than I was.
:14:10. > :14:19.We made sure we arrived at 1:30am on the dot outside his father's
:14:19. > :14:27.house. We drove up very slowly and turned the lights off. We just
:14:27. > :14:33.waited. After about ten minutes there was a figure that came to the
:14:34. > :14:43.window and it looked too tall for me to be Austin. And we thought it
:14:44. > :14:46.
:14:46. > :14:51.As we were driving off, we were saying to each other, "What do we
:14:52. > :14:56.do now? What do we do? We can't go home." If Austin is in trouble I
:14:56. > :14:58.don't want to leave him, you know, in this position. And then we got a
:14:58. > :15:03.phone call from Austin's best friend's mother, saying, "Austin's
:15:04. > :15:08.on Facebook. He's saying, "Turn round. I've been at the window
:15:09. > :15:16.watching you, waiting to come out. Turn round, turn round, don't leave
:15:16. > :15:24.me here." So at that point we turned round, but I had to go over
:15:24. > :15:29.a flyover, and I got lost. I don't recognise this road.
:15:29. > :15:34.Just keep driving and just hope I see somewhere I recognise.
:15:34. > :15:40.Austin's friend's mother was saying, "Austin's desperate to leave. Can
:15:40. > :15:43.you get there quickly?" And we asked him, I asked him, "Can you
:15:43. > :15:50.wait till 3pm, just to be sure, to make sure your dad's in bed and
:15:50. > :15:54.he's asleep?" And he said, "No, I'm coming out now." And this is while
:15:54. > :15:57.we're still lost. And then he logged off Facebook. So I'm
:15:57. > :16:00.desperately trying to find the house again and navigate the roads,
:16:00. > :16:03.and eventually, in what seemed like an hour we managed to find the
:16:03. > :16:13.house, and there was this figure, Austin, with his bags, waiting
:16:13. > :16:21.
:16:22. > :16:31.When he saw our car lights, he hid behind the bush, because obviously
:16:32. > :16:33.
:16:33. > :16:36.he couldn't be certain it was us until we drew up. And he was there,
:16:36. > :16:45.he was actually there, it was him, and he did have his suitcase that
:16:45. > :16:49.he'd packed before, and, you know, he really had planned this to a tee.
:16:49. > :16:52.My dad got out of the car, helped him put his baggage in the car, his
:16:52. > :17:02.luggage, and we drove off slowly, and as soon as we got to the end,
:17:02. > :17:07.
:17:07. > :17:12.I was driving, and I got a glint of him getting into the car, and I
:17:12. > :17:16.really wanted to hold him, you know, I really wanted to hold him. And I
:17:16. > :17:19.drove, because I had to make sure that we got out of France safely,
:17:19. > :17:23.you know, kept him safe, and I just kept looking in the rear-view
:17:23. > :17:33.mirror and saying to Wendy, "Is it really him, is he really in the
:17:33. > :17:46.
:17:46. > :17:49.car?" And she went, "Yes, it's But the drama certainly wasn't over.
:17:49. > :17:53.Instead of heading straight for the port, the group raced towards
:17:53. > :17:57.Belgium, the reason was that Austin didn't have a passport. Without one,
:17:57. > :18:00.he wouldn't be getting back into the UK. So they spent a very
:18:00. > :18:04.nervous day waiting in a hotel room in Brussels for the British Embassy
:18:04. > :18:10.to open. Only once they had a temporary passport for Austin could
:18:10. > :18:18.they breathe a sigh of relief. When we got back to England we just
:18:18. > :18:23.wanted to kiss the ground, all of us. At last, on safe territory. And
:18:23. > :18:30.we can go home and be a family again. Without Dylan, obviously,
:18:30. > :18:33.but we're nearly there. Austin's home and he's safe.
:18:33. > :18:40.Court orders prevent us from seeing or hearing Austin, but Sam says
:18:40. > :18:44.he's glad to be back, and has settled in well. Having managed to
:18:44. > :18:48.rescue one of her children, Sam Raw is more determined than ever to
:18:48. > :18:51.bring her other son Dylan back to the UK. The judgments at the
:18:51. > :18:56.highest courts in the UK and France are clear, Dylan must be returned
:18:56. > :19:04.to Sam. But the problem is that the court orders have not been enforced
:19:04. > :19:10.The Hague Convention requires France to recognise and act on
:19:10. > :19:15.legal judgments made in the UK and vice versa. But it's not happened
:19:15. > :19:20.in this instance. Sam's local MP, Norman Lamb, has
:19:20. > :19:26.taken up her case. He wants to resolve the situation, so he's gone
:19:26. > :19:30.to France on Sam's behalf. I want to meet with the authorities
:19:30. > :19:34.and with the father. And I want to try convince them that the court
:19:34. > :19:37.order should be enforced, and we have just got to hope that they
:19:37. > :19:42.will recognise what should have happened a long time ago, and allow
:19:42. > :19:47.Dylan to return home. You just feel as a parent yourself, what must she
:19:47. > :19:51.be going through and how awful it must be. Not just the fact you are
:19:51. > :20:01.missing your children, but you fear for their safety. So you do
:20:01. > :20:06.everything you can to support her. Norman Lamb is meeting the local
:20:06. > :20:15.prosecutor in Poitiers, the region where Sam used to live. The MP
:20:15. > :20:18.wants answers as to why Dylan is still living with his dad.
:20:18. > :20:21.There was a very bad relationship between the children and the mother.
:20:21. > :20:29.The children cannot go back with their mother, given the historical
:20:29. > :20:31.behaviour. There was shouting, hitting the mother. Sam says that
:20:31. > :20:36.refers to just one emotional meeting.
:20:36. > :20:39.The highest courts both here and in the UK are aware of what happened.
:20:39. > :20:46.They have ruled it doesn't alter the fact that Sam should have
:20:46. > :20:51.custody of her child. We try to do things so the decision
:20:51. > :20:58.can be implemented. But in view of the children and their reticence
:20:58. > :21:02.about living with their mother, we did not implement the decision.
:21:02. > :21:06.But as Norman Lamb points out, they have no right to do that. Court
:21:06. > :21:13.orders are clearly being breached. Dylan is effectively being held
:21:13. > :21:16.illegally in France. Concerning the fact that it has not
:21:16. > :21:21.been possible to implement the decision of the Court of Appeal, it
:21:21. > :21:25.shows its difficulty. But at the same time, it's very difficult for
:21:25. > :21:30.someone to take a child of 13, 14, 15 from one country to another
:21:30. > :21:36.between two policeman. It would cause me big difficulties to say to
:21:36. > :21:39.two police officers, "Take this child." Although Norman learns why
:21:39. > :21:45.the order had not been implemented, it doesn't seem as if any real
:21:45. > :21:50.progress has been made. How did it go?
:21:50. > :21:53.Well, pretty frustrating, to be honest. I mean, he gave us a lot of
:21:53. > :22:00.time, but I was struck by just how different things are here compared
:22:00. > :22:02.to the UK. In the United Kingdom, if there is a court order, it will
:22:02. > :22:08.be complied with, as the authorities will make sure that
:22:08. > :22:16.happens. Here, the court makes a decision, and they carry on
:22:16. > :22:20.regardless and make their own decision.
:22:20. > :22:25.Norman Lamb's next stop is a large town on the west coast of France
:22:25. > :22:32.called le Roche sur Yon. It's the home of Sam's ex-husband, Thierry
:22:32. > :22:36.Giraudeau. He's agreed to meet the MP to discuss the issue of custody.
:22:36. > :22:39.I've come now to see Sam's ex- husband. I thought we were going to
:22:39. > :22:44.see him in his own home, but we have been directed to his lawyer's
:22:44. > :22:51.office. So that's where we will see him.
:22:52. > :22:56.Bonjour. Norman Lamb. Merci. My plan is, and I've talked to Sam
:22:56. > :22:58.about this, is to try and move forward. There is inevitably going
:22:59. > :23:01.to be irreconcilable differences about the past, but let's try and
:23:01. > :23:10.think positively about the way forward, let's try to rebuild
:23:10. > :23:14.relationships and give Sam the chance to see her son again.
:23:14. > :23:21.The appointment is for midday. Norman's a few minutes early, he
:23:21. > :23:25.waits with the lawyer for Thierry to arrive.
:23:25. > :23:32.Also in La Roche is Sam. She's hoping Norman can help broker a
:23:32. > :23:39.meeting with her son. It's the first time since the rescue of
:23:39. > :23:45.Austin that Sam's been back. She finds it very painful being here.
:23:46. > :23:55.Being back makes me feel nervous. I look around me, and all I see are
:23:55. > :23:57.buildings that remind me of horrific events. The school where
:23:57. > :24:07.the children were being illegally detained, the gendarmerie, there is
:24:07. > :24:10.nobody in authority I can trust here.
:24:10. > :24:17.In the lawyer's office, Norman Lamb is still waiting for Thierry, who
:24:17. > :24:25.is now over an hour late for the planned meeting.
:24:25. > :24:31.His lawyer then receives a text message. It's bad news.
:24:31. > :24:36."I'm in the hospital. I couldn't predict it. You have to explain it.
:24:36. > :24:40.Goodbye. Thank you." Norman wonders if the message is genuine, or
:24:40. > :24:43.whether Thierry has just changed his mind about meeting. It's a blow,
:24:43. > :24:50.especially for Sam, who was desperate to see her son.
:24:50. > :24:53.Well, Sam, he didn't turn up. He didn't turn up. He eventually,
:24:53. > :25:00.after an hour, he texted the lawyer to say that he was in hospital,
:25:00. > :25:07.that he'd gone to hospital and couldn't come. Who knows whether
:25:07. > :25:10.it's true. So it ended up with me talking to the lawyer. I told him
:25:10. > :25:17.eventually that you were here, I said that you were obviously very
:25:17. > :25:21.keen to see Dylan, could he help to fix up a meeting? Obviously, you
:25:21. > :25:24.waiting here for the rest of the day, there is just a chance, I
:25:24. > :25:33.don't know how high that chance is, but there is a possibility of you
:25:33. > :25:37.seeing Dylan, but I don't want to build up your hopes at all.
:25:37. > :25:41.Sam did wait. But the call from her ex-husband never came. She didn't
:25:41. > :25:48.get to see her son. The trip to France had been a big
:25:48. > :25:52.A month on, and back home in Norfolk, it's a chance for Sam and
:25:52. > :26:00.Norman Lamb to catch up. We exchanged e-mails with the
:26:00. > :26:03.lawyer, but he hasn't contacted me since then. I haven't e-mailed him
:26:03. > :26:09.because I felt I shouldn't without your permission, and I wanted to
:26:09. > :26:13.discuss that further with you. But so far, nothing further to report,
:26:13. > :26:16.I'm afraid. But Sam has some good news to tell
:26:16. > :26:21.Norman. She's taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights,
:26:21. > :26:27.and she has just heard the action will be fast-tracked. She hopes the
:26:27. > :26:30.court will force the French authorities to hand over Dylan.
:26:30. > :26:32.Is there a way forward for Sam at this point?
:26:32. > :26:35.Sam's absolutely right to be pursuing the European Court of
:26:35. > :26:41.Human Rights route, and the fact that they are fast-tracking it is
:26:41. > :26:44.fantastic news. I still have anxieties that it will
:26:44. > :26:50.take a long time, but let's just hope that it forces France to
:26:50. > :26:53.comply with the law. We have this extraordinary situation that the
:26:53. > :26:55.French state is complicit really in allowing a court order not to be
:26:55. > :27:05.enforced, and that is an extraordinary situation for EU
:27:05. > :27:08.country to be in. A ruling from the European Court of
:27:08. > :27:14.Human Rights could come early next year, but after all the setbacks
:27:14. > :27:21.she suffered over the years, Sam struggles to remain optimistic.
:27:21. > :27:24.It's very distressing. I find it really hard to be in this room. I
:27:24. > :27:31.think as time is going on, I am finding it harder and harder to
:27:31. > :27:34.come in, because I'm dusting a dead room, basically. And sometimes it
:27:34. > :27:41.seems pointless, and sometimes I get the hope back and it comes back
:27:41. > :27:45.again. His belongings are all around the house. We are surrounded
:27:45. > :27:48.by Dylan in the house. He is part of the house.
:27:48. > :27:52.Do you think that's important to keep that hope alive by having this
:27:52. > :28:02.room ready for him should he come home?
:28:02. > :28:03.
:28:03. > :28:13.Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, he's my child. I love him. I just feel so
:28:13. > :28:14.
:28:14. > :28:17.desperate that he is in this If you've been affected by anything
:28:17. > :28:20.in tonight's programme, you can get in touch with the charity Reunite.
:28:20. > :28:27.If there is something we should investigate, send me an e-mail -
:28:27. > :28:33.david.whiteley@bbc.co.uk. I will see you next week, and I'll be back
:28:33. > :28:38.Next week, we investigate why this man is one of thousands being
:28:38. > :28:44.wrongly assessed as fit to work. After 12 months of extreme