Mother tells of bid to snatch son

A British woman arrested in Dubai after trying to snatch back her son from an Arab billionaire spoke today from her cell.

For mer air hostess Sarra Fotheringham, 34, talking by phone to the Evening Standard, told of the appalling conditions she is being held in and of her determination to continue her fight.

She said: "I only have a dirty mattress, there's no air conditioning, there ' s no doors on the toilets and I feel very down.

"Everything is conducted in Arabic and I don't speak Arabic. They ask me to sign statements in Arabic which is utterly pointless. It really is pretty appalling."

Mrs Fotheringham is being held at a Dubai police station in the United Arab Emirates. She went to Dubai to try to smuggle out her 10-year-old son Tariq, the subject of a bitter custody battle with his father Rashid Al Habtoor, one of the world's richest men.

Mrs Fotheringham had an affair with Mr Al Habtoor in Dubai in 1990 but claims he wanted nothing to do with her when she was pregnant and she returned to England to bring up the boy. She says Mr Al Habtoor renewed contact when Tariq was seven and is now keeping him at his Dubai home after a legal battle which went through the British courts.

Mr Al Habtoor told this afternoon from his home in Dubai how he drove flat out to reach his son, who he found out had been put on a ship by his mother which was about to leave the country. He added: "How on earth could a mother act in this irresponsible and reckless way?"

Mrs Fotheringham says she has only been allowed to see Tariq three times in two years and each time the boy has said: "I don't like it here mummy, you have to get me out of this."

Her husband, policeman Neil Fotheringham, 32, who adopted Tariq six years ago, said from their home in Camberley that he was desperately worried about his wife. The Fotheringhams have three other children.

Mrs Fotheringham said from Dubai that Mr Al Habtoor is trying to prosecute her for kidnapping. But she vowed: "I want to get a lawyer myself to prosecute him for kidnapping. The latest development is that I'm going in front of the public prosecutor today. From what I've heard it seems the law over here is that you are guilty until proven innocent."

Mrs Fotheringham, who was held with another woman who had helped her, added: "They haven't actually charged us yet and from what I hear the public prosecutor is the enemy.

"I really don't know what is going to happen as they keep us in the dark."

She said she was being held with Arab women who have been arrested for having illegitimate children which is strictly forbidden under the country's sharia law.

She was able to talk to the Evening Standard when her call came through to her husband at their Surrey home while our reporter was with him. After an emotional conversation between the couple the phone call was suddenly cut short when her phone card expired.

Concerns for the wellbeing of Mrs Fotheringham intensified this afternoon as the family were told that she had been moved from the police station where they could contact her to another unnamed police station.

Mr Fotheringham said: "The Al Habtoor family want to treat this as a minor offence of child abduction as they don't want the details to come out in court. They want to force Sarra to leave as quickly as possible, but Sarra just wants her son back."

He added: "Sarra was desperate to see Tariq after his father and his family cut off all communication with him." He said his wife knew the risks of trying to snatch him back before setting out, but would not be deterred because every other avenue had been exhausted.

She phoned her husband in the early hours of yesterday to say that she had managed to outwit Tariq's bodyguards and collected the boy from school. She told her husband that she was with Tariq and another woman who had helped her carry out the snatch in the United Arab Emirates. The two women, both wearing local dress, had intended to drive to neighbouring Qatar before returning to Britain.

However, they could not continue because they had to pass through Saudi Arabia, which bans women from driving, and opted to go by sea.

They headed for a boat which would have taken them to Basra in Iraq. From there they planned to travel to Syria and then home.

But then came the phone call alerting Mr Fotheringham that they had been caught at Port Rashid. Mr Fotheringham added: "I've had phone calls from Arabs saying 'she's going to spend the rest of her life in prison'."

Mrs Fotheringham was today visited by a female British consular official. The visit lasted about an hour and she was reported to be "fine". A Foreign Office spokeswoman said British officials based in Dubai are also hoping to see Tariq today. The boy is understood to be back with his father.

Mrs Fotheringham met Mr Al Habtoor when she was working for Emirates airline in Dubai. Mr Al Habtoor claims he was only told about the boy in 1998.

Whatever the truth, the Fotheringhams were happy to arrange a number of meetings between the father and son in England.

In September, 1999, the Fotheringhams travelled to Dubai to see if they could live there, after Mr Al Habtoor offered to pay for their visit.

But they decided to return to Britain after three months. However, Mr Al Habtoor would not allow Tariq to go home with them, so they began legal proceedings to get custody.

In January 2000 the High Court declared that Tariq was being unlawfully detained in Dubai and ordered his release. But in February 2001 Mr Al Habtoor went to the Appeal Court conceded jurisdiction to the Arab courts. The Fotheringhams were denied leave to take the case to the House of Lords.

Mr Fotheringham is now looking after the couple's other children Cameron, seven, Annabel, four, and Charlie, 18 months. He said: "We love TT (Tariq) and desperately wanted him back with us. Sarra sounded so elated in her first phone call and now it has all gone so wrong."

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is not expected to make a direct intervention, as Britain never does in cases involving alleged child abduction abroad. A source close to Mr Straw said: "In many of these cases you are looking at a situation where somebody might have broken the law. It is not for us to say who should or should not get custody of a child."

Senior figures at both the Foreign Office and Downing Street are, however, being kept fully up to date as Mrs Fotheringham's case rapidly rises up the diplomatic agenda.

? Additonal reporting: Colin Adamson, Patrick Sawer and Patrick Hennessy

Father hits out at 'selfish kidnap'
The tug of love for Tariq
Billionaire who played polo with Charles