Runaway Shevaun back in arms of her parents

THE parents of a 12-year-old British girl who ran off with a former US Marine yesterday told of the moment she phoned to say she was coming home.

Shevaun Pennington was safe and well back in the arms of her parents, Stephen and Joanna, last night, five days after disappearing with the ex-soldier she had met over the internet. Mrs Pennington, 42, of Lowton, near Leigh, Greater Manchester, later described the early-morning phone call, in which her daughter said she was coming home, as the best she had ever had.

The schoolgirl flew home alone from Stuttgart, via Amsterdam, before being met by police and taken to a joyful family reunion at Leigh police station. Shortly before Shevaun arrived back, former US Marine Toby Studabaker, 31, was arrested in Frankfurt on suspicion of child abduction.