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rebecca minnock

Missing mother Becky Minnock and her son Ethan found safe and well

“This is the news we had been hoping for.”

child and mother picture Avon and Somerset Police Avon and Somerset Police

Updated: 10.32 pm

POLICE IN BRITAIN have confirmed that missing mother and child Becky Minnock and her son Ethan, have been found safe and well, after she turned herself in tonight.

In a statement this evening, the Avon and Somerset Constabulary said:

Rebecca, known as Becky, who had been missing with Ethan since May 26, came forward and made contact with us this evening.
She was in the Oxford area when she came forward.

DCI Marie Wright, who led the investigation, warmly welcomed the resolution.

This is the news we had been hoping for and I am grateful to Becky for coming forward.
Both Becky and Ethan will now receive the support they need and the appropriate welfare arrangements will be made.
I would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance throughout this investigation.

Earlier, police had issued a call for her return, via the Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s YouTube channel,  saying “you don’t have to carry on hiding”.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary / YouTube

The pair have been missing for the past fortnight after a judge in the UK ruled that Ethan’s father should be given custody of him. 

Quoted in The Daily Mail earlier this week, Becky said:

I’ve lost all faith and trust in the system. I know I’m going to be in a huge amount of trouble… I didn’t think it would go to this extent.

Earlier this week the reporting restriction on the case were lifted by a judge at Bristol crown court who allowed the details of the case to be reported.

In the video, DCI Marie Wright, speaking on behalf of the police force, asks that Becky comes forward to them.

We know what you are doing is for the best reasons, because you are his mum and you are thinking what’s best for him, and doing what any mum would given the fact that you feel you are really protecting him.

She went on to say that she is aware that the mother has been talking with various British media outlets and that she has expressed a wish to reunite her child with its grandparents.

Meanwhile, a lorry driver called Andrew Butt faces contempt of court charges for lying about the couple’s whereabouts, The Guardian reported.

Originally published: 7.17 pm

Additional reporting by Dan Mac Guill.

Read: UK police search for mum ‘on the run’ with three-year-old son

Also: “We are relieved”: Tourists who stripped naked on ‘sacred mountain’ allowed to go home

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