Banotti: Parents shouldn’t risk leaving children alone

A CHILD’S appearance can be altered in minutes and speed is of the essence when trying to track down their abductor, an expert in the area of child abduction has warned.

Former MEP Mary Banotti, chairwoman of the Irish Centre for Parentally Abducted Children (ICPAC), also advised parents not to leave their children alone.

Referring to the abduction of three-year-old Madeleine McCann from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, the Algarve, while her parents dined in a nearby Tapas Bar, Ms Banotti said: “It is something you don’t expect, to be preyed on in an apartment, but clearly this family was being tracked.