Mother 'not in contempt' for keeping children

A Welsh teacher embroiled in an international tug-of-love dispute has been found not to be in contempt of court.

Legal advisers told the High Court Jennifer Jones, aged 46, from Llanelli had been in contempt when she failed to hand four of her children to her Spanish ex-husband.

Lawyers representing the Solicitor General argued that she should be penalised for breaching a High Court order to hand the children to their father, a Spanish army officer, in Cardiff in October.

Her lawyers told judge Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division of the High Court, that her contempt was not "deliberate" and that the children's behaviour had made it impossible for her to comply with the order.

The case hit the headlines last October when Ms Jones and the four children disappeared. They were all found safe and well within days after a High Court judge made a public appeal for help.