Runaway mum and boys hid in £1,000-a-week holiday park
Family found just 15 miles from home after tip-off
‘We anticipate further arrests’ ‘Concerned about what happens next’
A MOTHER and her two sons who sparked a nationwide manhunt last week were yesterday found in a holiday lodge – 15 miles from their home.
Samantha Baldwin, 40, was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and her sons Dylan and Louis Madge, aged six and nine, are being looked after by care professionals.
Police swooped at the remote £1,000- a-week Sherwood Hideaway holiday park, near Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, early yesterday morning after a tip-off from a member of the public.
The luxury resort provides spa treatments, private hot tubs, dressing robes and slippers, and Egyptian cotton sheets. Guests are welcomed with wine and chocolates.
Miss Baldwin, who had been living with her sons in a rented house in Newark, had fled ten days earlier after a judge ruled her children should be removed from her custody and made wards of the court in a hearing at Nottingham Family Court last Monday.
Chief Superintendent Helen Chamberlain, of Nottinghamshire Police, said yesterday: ‘The boys were located with a woman in very secluded accommodation run by a small holiday business. The information provided was independent of this business, however they are assisting officers with their inquiries.’ She added that the boys did ‘ not appear to be physically harmed but we will be looking into any psychological damage’.
The brothers are now being assessed by specialist care experts.
Police said Miss Baldwin was arrested in connection with the boys’ disappearance. Last night she remained in custody.
Two other women, aged 62 and 36, believed to be her mother Dianne and sister Leonie, were arrested earlier on suspicion of assisting an offender and remain on bail. More arrests are expected to be made.
Police revealed they received the tip-off that led to their discovery of Miss Baldwin and the boys on Wednesday night. Ch Supt Chamberlain would not say if the boys knew they were being treated as missing people or if they simply thought they were on holiday.
She added: ‘ The investigation continues and officers believe this to be a pre-planned attempt to evade authorities. We are anticipating further arrests.
‘Police are now working to establish the full facts of the disappearance and are putting in place additional support measures for all parties involved.’
The boys’ father David Madge, 43, from Rochdale, who is separated from Miss Baldwin, and wider fam- ily members have been kept informed of developments, she added. Ch Supt Chamberlain would not say who had booked the cabin or if any other guests were staying in neighbouring lodges.
The Sherwood Hideaway, a fourstar retreat near Sherwood Forest and the National Trust’s Clumber Park, describes itself as ‘the perfect family holiday destination’.
The two-bedroom lodge where Miss Baldwin stayed lets for £1,000 a week.
Around 100 police officers have been working on the inquiry to find Miss Baldwin and her sons, which included an alert to all ports and airports across Europe.
Initially a missing persons case was launched, but within 24 hours detectives said it was a suspected abduction. Miss Baldwin, an office worker, left the keys of her smart terraced home with neighbours last Monday and asked them to feed her cats before vanishing. Her car had not been seen since. Police were alerted when she and the boys could not be traced.
Dressed in a red coat, the mother was last seen close to the court and was captured on CCTV cameras walking through Nottingham city centre.
Officers had focused their inquiries on Newark, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Greater Manchester where Miss Baldwin had links.
The boys’ paternal grandparents Robert and Janette Madge, who live in Devon, had issued their own appeal, saying they did not know where their grandchildren were.
Friends of Miss Baldwin last night said they were now concerned with her fate as well as the boys’ welfare.
Rebecca Anlauf, who went to school with Miss Baldwin, set up a website to raise funds for her legal costs which was later shut down for legal reasons.
She said: ‘We are just concerned for the boys and where they are, also what happens to Sam next.’
Another friend, Janine Mitchell, said she was ‘distraught’ about the case and that she and other supporters of Miss Baldwin would be meeting to discuss how they could help her.