I sleep with the teddy I bought Leonie... now I hope one day I can finally give it to her
Mum who hasn’t seen daughter for eight years after dad took her to Spain hopes to see her after he’s found living in England
JENNIFER HYLAND AND JOHN SIDDLE
A Castlemilk mum who spent eight years searching for her missing daughter has finally been offered hope after her expartner and her child were tracked down in England.
Jan O’Hara has not seen Leonie, now 11, since she was a youngster after a bitter split with ex- boyfriend Christopher Stuart.
The dad, who was living in Cambuslang at the time, broke a court ruling banning him from taking her out the country in 2012 and flew out to Spain.
Despite repeated attempts through the years by Jan, a private investigator and involvement from Interpol as well as the Spanish authorities, no one could trace the former squaddie and his daughter.
But last week the Reformer’s sister paper the Sunday Mail found Stuart, 30, living at a terraced house in Derbyshire after moving back to the UK with Leonie.
Jan, 32, said: “For eight years I have had no idea where my baby was. The shock, relief, the happiness and the sadness just hit me like a wall.
“I can still remember the first moment I cradled her in my arms. I still remember how her hair feels when I run it through my fingers and how her bright brown eyes light up when she laughs.
“I still sleep with the teddy I bought her for her fourth birthday but was never able to give her. I now hope one day I finally can. More than anything,
I just want to tell her I’ve never stopped looking for her and that I love her with all my heart.”
The mum-of-five now hopes she will finally be reunited with the little girl who she last saw when she was just three years old.
Mr Stuart insisted that he would not let Jan, who used to stay in Rutherglen, meet Leonie.
He said: “I’m not interested. I’ve still got Leonie and I’m not going to let Jan see her.”
His dad Keith Stuart said: “I am her grandfather and feel our side has to be heard.
“Since Leonie has lived in Spain, she has flourished.
“She is confident, fluent in Spanish, an accomplished equestrian and she does not, under any circumstances, want to go through the pain of seeing her mother.”
In March 2012, Stuart, who is originally from Derby, had been living in Cambuslang and applied to Glasgow Sheriff Court to take Leonie to Spain, saying he wanted to move to the Costa del Sol for work and to live with his parents.
Sheriff Wendy Sheenan refused his request after Jan’s objections and set a hearing for April that year.
But before that could take place, Stuart disappeared with Leonie.
Police could not help as they said the girl was with her father, while Spanish authorities were unable to track him down.
Jan, who is also mum to Kiara, 14, Justin, 13, Charlie Claire, four, and two-year-old Meghan, said: “I just don’t understand how
Chris has lived with himself all this time.
“I don’t know how he has managed to look Leonie in the eye every day knowing that he has torn her away from her mother who loves her.
“He defied the court and secretly left the country. He deliberately stayed hidden for years because he knows he wasn’t allowed to do that.
“All I knew is that Chris was probably in Spain with his parents and sisters.
“But for whatever reason, they have refused to answer emails, calls or Facebook messages for years.
“After he left, I heard nothing. No one could find her. Does he know how that feels and what that does to a mother? It destroyed me.
“No matter how he feels about me, I’m her mum and she is my little girl. I carried her inside me and felt her kicking as she grew.
“I gave birth to her and I held her in my arms and kissed her forehead.
“I worry what Leonie was told about me. I worry she has been told I left her or that I didn’t love her. None of that is true.
“I know Leonie has been living with her dad for a long time and I understand I can’t just turn her world upside down and take her away.
“I would never want to hurt or upset her. I just want to see my baby and be part of her life.”
Stuart and Jan met in October 2007 through mutual friends on a night out.
They spent the night together and weeks later Jan discovered she was pregnant. When she was eight months pregnant, Stuart left the Army and moved to Scotland to live with Jan.
When Jan’s mum suffered a series of heart attacks, she said Stuart suggested that she went to care for her for a few days while he took Leonie to his mum’s house in Cambuslang.
Jan claims that Stuart then refused to allow her access to
Leonie. Following a lengthy civil action in 2011, Stuart was awarded a residency order for Leonie and Jan given a visitation order.
In 2016 Jan told the Reformer about the heartbreak of searching for her missing daughter.
She is now working with lawyers Turnbull McCarron to try and see her daughter once again.
Family law specialist Morven
Douglas, of BTO Family Law Solicitors in Glasgow, said: “Taking Leonie to Spain in this case was not lawful.
“He obviously did know that as he went to court to ask for permission in the first place.
“The fact is that the court didn’t give permission and he is supposed to have Jan’s consent or the court’s consent – and he had neither.”
More than anything, I just want to tell her I’ve never stopped looking for her and that I love her with all my heart