CLAIRE DEVINE reports as a Chester couple make an emotional plea for the return of their grandson,

A CHESTER couple have made an emotional plea for the safe return of their 10-year-old grandson, abducted in Qatar.

Dorothy and John Jones say their daughter-in-law Rebecca Jones was tricked into signing custody of her son over to her late husband’s Arabic family on October 5.

Now the couple, of Simpson Road, The Dale, are rallying for public support to try and overturn the court order preventing Adam from being reunited with his mum Rebecca, step-dad Barrie – Dorothy and John’s son – and five-year-old sister Alex at their home in Bahrain.

Dorothy, 63, who used to work in the audiology department at the Countess of Chester Hospital, said: “We are very worried about Adam and Rebecca. Rebecca says Adam has lost weight and become very withdrawn. He has also started to stammer, which is unlike him.

“He knows what the situation is and says he wants to be with Rebecca, Barrie and Alex. He gets very upset.”

The couple told how Adam’s biological father, Jamal Almadhaki, left Rebecca six months after Adam was born and remarried. He kept in contact but had minimal access to Adam. Four years ago he died in a motorbike accident.

Rebecca, originally from Sheffield, kept in contact with the Almadhaki family and regularly took Adam over for visits to the family home in the Al-dafna district of Doha, the capital of Qatar.

On October 5, Rebecca was asked by the family to take Adam for a visit as his grandmother was ill. A car collected Adam and he rang Rebecca to confirm his safe arrival.

Shortly afterwards, Rebecca was visited by Adam’s uncle, Fahad Almadhaki, and a court official. Fahad presented her with a contract in Arabic, which he said was in relation to land for Adam’s inheritance following his father’s death.

Rebecca refused to sign it, saying she could not understand it. But the court official spoke good English and assured her it was about the inheritance so she took his word and signed it.

According to Rebecca, Fahad laughed and said: “You’ll never see your son again.”

The contract Rebecca signed had transferred custody over to Adam’s Qatari grandmother.

It was nine weeks before Rebecca saw Adam again. She went to court to try to regain custody but lost due to the document she had been duped into signing.

An appeal is due on December 31 but Mr and Mrs Jones hope it will take place earlier.

In the past two weeks, Rebecca has secured regular access to see Adam twice a week, accompanied by a guard.

In the meantime, while Rebecca is based in Qatar to be near to Adam, Barrie is still in Bahrain, looking after the couple’s daughter Alex, who was five on Tuesday.

Former Royal Air Force serviceman Mr Jones, 67, said: “Barrie is a sales manager for internet security company Symantec in Bahrain. His company has been very supportive.”

Barrie’s brother Mark, Mark’s wife Sarah and their six-year-old son Billie, of Westminster Park, are also backing the campaign to return Adam to his family.