Spain’s stolen babies scandal is another dark legacy of Franco

THOUSANDS of babies disappeared over a 40-year period in Spain, stolen from their mothers and handed over for adoption by the state and the Catholic Church.

Gradually over the past few months the story of these stolen babies — it could be as many as 300,000 — has emerged and with it more details of how such a momentous crime could be carried out.

As hundreds of people call for an investigation and many suspect they may be one of the children kidnapped at birth, it seems they may never find out the truth — at least not officially.