Mum of missing children says ex-husband ‘abducted’ them and flew to Tunisia

Pictures have been released of a father who has been accused of “abducting” his three children and flying them to Tunisia without consent.

Fares Aljehani, 33, said he was taking the children on a beach holiday to fishing village Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire, his ex-wife Dawn Daley claims.

But Libyan national Aljehani is instead alleged to have flown out of the UK to Tunisia with Khalid, eight, Aasiyah, six and Maimunah, four, along with his new wife Samiyah Aljehani.

Ms Daley, 43, from Manchester, said: “The plan was to take them to Robin Hood's Bay for a week, and then he was going to drop them off the following Wednesday.

She said she last heard from the children over two weeks ago after dropping them off with their dad as “he doesn’t really allow me to speak to them”.

But she was left in a state of “panic” after he failed to respond to her messages and appeared to have left his home and sold his car when she went to pick up her kids 10 days later.

Ms Daley later spoke to a restaurant owner – where Aljehani worked – who said he had quit his job a day earlier to move abroad.

She said she was later told by Greater Manchester Police that they had released a warrant for Fares and Aljehani on charges of “abduction” after he was spotted boarding a flight from TUI airport with their children.

Ms Daley said: “The police have said they’ve tracked them so far to Tunisia. All five of them boarded the plane.

“Fares is a Libyan national, and I’ve been to Libya and Tunisia in the past, and from Tunisia, it’s only a few hours’ drive to Libya, so when they said that, I just knew that they were there.

“They’ve now put warrants out for the two for abduction, with high-risk missing person’s tags put on the children.”

She added: “I’ve always had this fear that he’s going to do this…

"I feel like there's nothing worth living for without them. He's broken my family in half.”

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that they had received a report of the three missing children, that “are believed to be with a family member”.

A spokesperson added that “enquiries are ongoing to trace the whereabouts of the children”.