Holiday mum abandoned her twins, 9, in Benidorm so she could go drinking
A BRITISH holidaymaker was arrested for abandoning her nine-year-old twin sons while out on a drinking session in Benidorm.
One of the boys was taken to a police station by a couple who found him wandering the streets of the Costa Blanca resort at night looking for his mother.
The other boy was discovered lying by the front door of their holiday apartment, having walked across town in search of the 40-year-old on Tuesday evening.
She was arrested on Wednesday morning after police tracked down where she was staying and found her asleep in her apartment.
It emerged the mother had given the nine-year- olds money to get themselves some food while she
‘Asleep in their apartment’
stayed in an area full of bars to keep drinking. When the boys returned to where they had last seen her she had left, so they split up to look for her.
She admitted she had failed to raise the alarm after becoming separated from the boys, claiming she thought they knew the way home – despite the route back involving them walking across the whole of Benidorm.
Both sons were taken into care while she was taken to court to appear in front of a judge in a private hearing where she was asked to explain herself.
Yesterday, neither the name of the woman nor the result of the court hearing was being made public by the Spanish authorities.
However, Spanish National Police highlighted the woman’s behaviour in a statement: ‘Police in Benidorm have arrested a 40-year-old British woman for abandoning her two nine-year-old sons in an area full of bars to continue drinking.
‘At 10pm on July 27 a couple came into a police station with a nine-year- old boy they’d found walking around the streets looking for his mum.
‘The youngster was with his twin brother and his mum in an area of bars and she gave them money to go to get something to eat.
‘However when they returned she was not in the same spot and the boys decided to separate to look for her. Officers began searching for the mum and the other child, and found the minor three hours later lying at the entrance to his holiday apartment in Finestrat having walked across town to reach it. The boys were taken to a police station and then to a child protection centre to guarantee their safety.’
Police added: ‘The search for their mum continued throughout the night until she was found at 8am the following morning sleeping peacefully inside her holiday flat.
‘She claimed she had lost her children around 8pm the previous evening while she was out drinking and admitted she hadn’t gone looking for them or alerted police because she thought they knew the way home, despite it involving them crossing the whole of Benidorm on foot.’
It is believed the woman has now been reunited with her children and may have decided to cut short her holiday so they could return to the UK.
The latest incident has echoes of the case of 42- year- old Alicia Jenkins from Rochdale, near Manchester, who admitted a charge of child abandonment when she appeared before Spanish magistrates six years ago.
On that occasion she left her 11year-old daughter on a beach in the resort of Salou on the Costa Dorada, while she went off for a drinking session in local bars.
The little girl was taken into care while her mother was dealt with by the Spanish courts.
The mother- of- six had booked the two- week break with her daughter and left her other children back in the UK with her then estranged husband taxi driver Shafaq Ahmed.
She was given a suspended six-month prison sentence and later reunited with her daughter before flying home.