Fears mum has taken children 'underground'

Lawyers for the father of four siblings, believed to have been "abducted" by their mother, have spoken of their fear she may have gone "underground" with the children.

Earlier, a High Court judge launched a nationwide hunt for Jessica 14, Tomas 12, Eva, nine and David, eight, after they went missing along with their mother Jennifer Jones during a visit to her home in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

The children are at the centre of a legal dispute between Ms Jones and her estranged Spanish husband Tomas Palacin Cambra, who the children live with in Majorca.

The lawyers revealed that the children are all bilingual and speak fluent Spanish as well as English with a Welsh accent.

They appealed for the mother to bring the children back and described their father as "devastated" by the turn of events.

"He has not seen the children since they came to Britain at the end of June," a spokeswoman for his legal team said.

The spokeswoman said that the father was aged 52 and worked for the Spanish military, but did not know it what capacity.

"He was waiting for the hand over of the children he has not seen since the end of June and now he is just devastated," she added.

She said the children had all been brought up in Spain and regarded the island as their permanent home.

She added that if the mother and children were not located overnight the father's legal team would be returning to the High Court in London tomorrow.

"We will be back in front of the judge tomorrow at 10.30 looking to see what further orders we can make," she said.