My Husband Snatched Our Two Daughters: A Mother's Fight | Real Stories Full-Length Documentary

[Laughter] for six years Alison Lich has been hunting for her children I remember his words so well he said Allison you have to forget about your children you know I could not believe he was saying those words now she Stak everything on one last journey to get them back [Music] I've been out to Bosnia three times looking for my children the situation out there it's so um so dangerous people keep [Music] guns you know if they saw me on my own they wouldn't hesitate maybe to use them you're just so vulnerable and you know you need the help of others da al- nahi British Muslim and mother of four to Interpol she's a child kidnapper to Allison she's Her Last Hope DA has a reputation for snatching back children abducted overseas when the courts have failed to get them returned she hopes Allison's daughters will be next I'm just I think that these doors are perfect because at home I know from experience when you're getting kids in and out the car it's easier with a sliding door that's right and if there's any traffic that by chance could be passing m you're going to be throwing them in like that not literally but well maybe right let's get going it's a cheap crap car if you go with a brand new car they it's going to stand out like a 6 years ago Allison's ex-husband Ramy abducted their two daughters to BOS Allison believes the girls have been told their mother is dead part of me is a little bit scared how the children are actually going to react to me you know I am worried about that I mean it'd be wonderful if I saw my children um and they recognized me you know and they came running to me I don't think they will run away I think they will just sort of be quite sort of shocked to see me you know and maybe they'll just think wow you know is that is that really mummy Allison hasn't got her children back even though British and international courts have said they should be with her Interpol issued an arrest warrant for ramies but for 6 years he has evaded the authorities and prevented all contact between Allison and her daughters the law is on Allison's side but in practice it has failed her now Allison is taking da to where she believes ramse and her daughters are living in secret they intend to snatch the girls off the street and give them the chance to go [Music] home the children believe that I'm dead my little girls are going to bed of a nighttime thinking that their mommy's dead that hurts me knowing what they're going through my little girls believing that their mommy is dead you know we're not going to see mommy again that's what hurts me the most [Music] for 4 years DA's been snatching children for mothers like Allison who've been failed by the law she doesn't take money for her help she does it on her own terms her technique is to get in and out again as discreetly as possible stay just 3 days in any one place any longer and people get suspicious Before Dawn tomorrow they must put their plan into [Music] action hi you up yeah yeah brushing my teeth yeah I need you to be really quick I think we should as if we're driving just pull over about4 to 7 and have something to eat in the car or pretend to have something to eat so if we do get stopped we're like we're just tourists and we just stop for 10 minutes rest if you see two girls that you believe and you think are yours from a distance we're just going to have to take that chance you're going to know but I've got no idea only from the photograph so it's up to you everything's in your hands now the possibilities are that we are going to get arrested I mean we don't know so you're going to take all this Con consequences on okay mhm and you're happy to do that you sure yes the plan is for Allison's brother Darren to be The gway Driver are you worried about that drive back um yes or no it's really important this do you think you can do that drive back well if everybody else if if the kids are seing going into the van there's going to be some commotion yeah I know are you going to be able to drive that van leave the children to me Allison are you going to be able to drive that van without panicking I don't know what I'm going to think to be honest you don't you don't think you're going to be able to do it do you it's difficult to know just a minute please Alison do you think because you're putting us and the Children at Risk here if you can't do it you have to tell me now I just feel like you've only got one chance at this and if if it's messed up that's it we can't if you just if we just listen and we do things sensibly it will not get messed up I think we should make a move we haven't got much time okay I want to be there I'm happy to go for it now yes you do you want to go and get your shoes on there yeah come on we go we got time to F us the van is heading for risa's remote home Village of isic on bosnia's Northwest border the plan is to to wait in a van near to the school take the children once we got the children in the van then I can sit down and talk to the children and explain to them what's happening what's going on I know it's going to be very um traumatic for them I'm not only doing it for myself I'm doing it for the children as well cuz they have a right to know who their mother is and they will learn the truth then I know deep in my heart I am doing the right thing it's here here it is here yeah turn it around so that you're ready to leave do you understand the van is parked on the road Allison's daughters would have to take to the Village School Allison may only have a few seconds to identify them as they walk past time is it now back s uh you've got a little while they start school at 8 don't they no Alison you look up that way all the time but don't make it obious what we need now as the children what we have hats on won't they and scarves and you know be they'll be wrapped up 25+ 7 but we're leaving their house about now yeah hold on a second coming down towards me now that'll be about her age yeah about her age yeah that's the age you're looking at she's about 11: but Nots no keep the curtains closed get the curtains closed there's a girl coming down now one just one girl yeah to your side my side def wasn't kids that little girl walking down there with her hat did she look like her no I think I saw that [Music] girl where's the girl now can you see the girl or do you see with the pink jacket she's gone where she [Music] gone [Music] they risk detection if they stay any longer they return to the hotel would have been wonderful wouldn't it just to seen the children just to seeing [Music] them [Music] i' know I'd recognize my own children straight away even if even if they've got hats on I would recognize them you know cuz i' would recognize them you well let's not talking anym cuz someone's sitting on the table would be how can mommies be so cruel how how can he you know how can he do this how you just EXP do you know even if we make a stink here and they know we've been here the kids are bound to find out that we have been here they're going to know you've come you know you don't think how can people be so cruel no how can they deny him mother the children they My Flesh and Blood I know they are I know I know that they'll only have a h they think they've got no feelings you know it's not the children think you got no heart children are everything to me nobody think that about everybody knows everybody will know how much you love those kids my life is nothing with my [Music] children for 6 years every day just exist be I getting fued off you know I'm just SC I'm going to see [Music] time don't give up I'm not I'm not giving up don't ever give up I feel I feel detered well then we're here and we'll do it and you know we'll do anything [Music] isach home to the Lich family for Generations Allison believes RAM and her daughters are hidden somewhere in the village but ramse has married again to a local woman and the families have closed ranks on three previous occas she's gone with officials to confront them but come away empty-handed Allison once caught a glimpse of her girls but that was only in a photograph she found in a neighboring [Music] Village when I've been out there in the past to e at church I've always felt so much closer to my children you know I've just I've just felt like sort of inches away from them I just feel so close that they are there was it's so such a close-nit community and that is the problem people say they've seen the children but as soon as the police the bosan police are involved you know they're scared you know to um reveal [Music] anything one of ramza's Brothers is a local policeman and Allison no longer expects a warm welcome in isach it's a sad contrast to her first visit 13 years [Music] ago in just a couple of weeks how can you begin to understand a country whose people live in six republics speak four languages and use two alphabets no perhaps the best thing to do is to just sit back and relax and take Yugoslavia as it [Music] comes in 1989 9 Allison and her sister went on a package holiday to a place that was then called Yugoslavia Allison was just 23 and she couldn't even find it on the map the holiday makers drift back to their hotels leaving the old streets to the young men who come out to sing I mean I went on holiday really just to forget about men one evening with went to a local disco and um and that's how I met ramies they married in January 1990 and lived with Ram's family in isach for 6 months then they decided to move to Britain they bought a house in Liverpool where their daughters Samantha and Rebecca were born he was a good father he was a very good father you know he really doed on [Music] them but in 1992 civil war broke out in the former Yugoslavia and Ram's Brothers fought on the front line rames began to ReDiscover his Muslim faith Islam and his daughters became the focus of his life they divorced in 1995 and Allison got custody of their children children ramse was allowed frequent access in [Music] holidays in 1997 he took Samantha and Rebecca then five and three to see his parents in Germany they never returned ramse had taken his girls home to isic I phoned every day for must have been about 4 months pleading with ramies you know please can I speak to my children eventually after that time he agreed but then you know the children had forgotten their [Music] English ramse has erased all traces of his daughter's British past no longer Samantha and Rebecca in is aich they are known as Aisha and Sophia after a second morning of fruitless surveillance Allison and Don decide to go straight to the Village School This Will Blow their cover and ramse will soon find out that Allison has come for her [Music] daughters I'll translate I'm my I'm Alison Lage um AA and sopia's mother thank you I think he going to find the father now yeah that means the children are here now you want to be careful they don't go out the other door need me put her in uhhuh still there are some lar kids here in this can you ask him if I can look around the classrooms uhhuh he leads them to a Lage cousin Ram's niece this is's brother's daughter say anything we just want to know if they're okay can she give them these toys you give this to Aisha and Sophia [Music] yes the teacher says no one knows where the kids are [Music] so told her shut up knows she knows she's scared she's scared we saw the brother's daughter there she knows where these kids are she knows the principal he left the office for 3 minutes 3 minutes that would have given her enough time to take the children out the classroom in the car gone maybe we're all being watched you call me paranoid but it's just got this got feeling that everyone's covering up with everything makes a lot of sense so it's the school caretaker has let Allison know that he is prepared to talk to her her elder daughter was at the school he says but is there no longer so she was here she was here for I think not really that long I think only for a few [Music] months the very moment he finds out they here he's going to let you know you follow them follow them so um know she's probably sat on that chair or so this is really the nearest I have to my children because you know walking around the school sitting on the chair and maybe her picture was on one of these walls you know her name was in the register and so this is probably the nearest thing I have to my children is the school no last month was [Music] here the people at the school seem to want to help can they really be lying to Allison or has Ram taken the girls into permanent hiding there's only one more place they can look before news gets back from the school they must go to the Lich family home at the edge of the [Music] village Ram could be concealing his daughters in the very house where Alison lived as a new [Music] bride they've decided that someone from the film crew who speaks the language should go with them to translate and keep an eye on [Music] them Allison sees a face she recognizes safit the brother closest to [Music] ramse if anyone knows where ramse is hiding he does Da Alison the children may even be [Music] here Ram's brother safid has reluctantly shown Allison and Don into the main family house but there is no sign of Ram or of Allison's daughters no I'm really desperate to see my children you know I have I have boys to you see that that's her favorite bracelet and she had that teddy bear that was her favorite teddy bear crying and that is a favorite J my children surely you can understand that as a mother she just wants to visit them just to see them she's happy to come here with the brother we're happy to have no problem uh saying as far as as contact with RIS goes He occasionally calls the brother doesn't even have his his phone number is he living here in Bosnia with the children are they safe 100% that he's not that he's not in in in Bosnia he's he's saying um he he left 5 years ago but then he he calls every 3 four months what country does he think they're in I mean he's the brother I find it very Str he he knows he knows where they are he's not prepared to tell us okay he says he can't be 100 that he's that he's in Bosnia because he doesn't have a phone number he doesn't know where they are he can't say 100% they're not in Bosnia uh they're expecting because it's month of Ramadan they're expecting Ramis to call in in next couple of days is on Friday Fray please I want to see my children I have photographs of my children I can't touch them I can't see them I don't know they're happy or [Music] sad as on her previous visits Allison faces the prospect of leaving isachc without answers for 6 years the family have refused to tell the authorities where amse is hiding they've refused Allison's repeated please but this time there is a way of getting at the [Music] truth we continue recording secretly in safi's house after Allison has [Music] left despite saying he has no number for ramies safit calls him [Music] immediately saf and his wife discuss what ramse has told them on the [Music] [Music] phone foreign fore [Music] [Applause] [Music] spee spe [Music] speech [Music] for saf's daughter comes back from [Music] [Music] school the family makes a number of calls to ramse over the next few days they're all to the same international code rames has defied Bosnian and British law to keep his children now he's taken refuge in a country where the law is on his side the Islamic Republic of [Music] Iran the news presents and Allison with some difficult decisions even in won Bosnia the central Authority upheld Allison's right to custody but in Iran religious hardliners run the courts under Iranian Sharia law a father is the legal guardian of his children Allison has virtually no chance of having her daughters returned by the Iranian [Music] authorities can it be right to submit the girls to an illegal and dangerous Journey out of [Music] Iran I'm desperate to get the children out normally I would go in like a bull in a china shop and I'd have those kids out but in her situation if she goes in and snatches those children the after effects she she's it's going to be terrible a year ago I I was arrested in Dubai trying to get a child out of Dubai and it's something that I never never want to happen again kiss first give us a kiss I pined pined for my children desperately pined for them I love oh I love [Music] you I was away from my children for 7even weeks and it felt like seven years so I really have to be very careful now the first child da removed without the father's consent was her own when her first marriage ended she's since got children out of turkey Iraq Kurdistan Tunisia Egypt Morocco and Libya smuggling children out of Iran would be the hardest yet but Allison is impatient to get out there wonderful fantastic you know after we have now found where amise is living and have photographed the [Music] children that's definitely Rebecca I recognize Rebecca SMA looks different though well she would after six years sweetheart I can't believe she looks really tall she looks same height as me but my children are taller these days I'd say 100% that's Rebecca 98% it's Samantha okay you're willing to take that risk and go all the way there to see it is them it is it is them no doubt about that it's quite hard really cuz you got the photographs now you just want to um go and see them and you want to touch them and cuddle them [Music] and I don't think they really look that really truly happy on these photographs really because they mean they're not smiling on these photographs um Samantha's frowning a lot so maybe she's not really happy she doesn't look happy [Music] really she looks actually sort of um cuz the photograph I found on um the photograph I found in [Music] buz the black and white photograph I found um in 98 I didn't look very happy on that and I thought it was because it was a black and white photograph but I mean they're not smiling on these photographs either though this drowning all the time so she like something's troubling her she's confused though I need to see them I need to talk to them to know if they're happy because these photographs just tell me that they're unhappy and I need to find that out there's just so much going on in my mind I don't know what is the right thing to do seen the photographs of my children now I really want them back with me full time just put them in a place where no one can touch them well he thinks they're safe but I just think he's got a bit of a shock coming to him in the next few [Music] days the trip to Iran will go ahead and as soon as [Music] possible donor and Allison will travel without the protection of the foreign office who have admitted that an official approach would tip R off for anonymity they apply for tourist visas they sense that in Iran a British Mother's rights don't amount to very [Music] [Applause] much Allison's plans have narrowed to a single strategy she must see her children and let them see her only then will she know how to do the right thing but in Iran even approaching the girls without their father's permission is illegal she and anyone with her could be arrested so the person it's most dangerous for her to see is her ex-husband ramse [ __ ] there ramies [ __ ] [ __ ] I just seen him with a briefcase [ __ ] seen him you saw him I saw him it's definitely him on the left hand side with a briefcase beard Ram has done well in tran he has University accommodation for his Bosnian wife and daughters he holds no teaching qualifications but his neighbors know him as the Bosnian [Music] [Applause] professor [Applause] [Music] over two days of surveillance da and Allison have worked out risa's timetable but they have yet to see the girls and in the weeks since they've been found Allison's daughters have only very rarely been cited outside the apartment access to them is not going to be easy and if Don sticks to her own rules tomorrow is her third and last day in tran it's just going to be the Temptation I don't know whether I can the Temptation is there just to see them right I'm just going to knock on his door and see the children and that could jeopardize everything that's what I'm frightening of doing the wrong thing tomorrow if you're with me you're not knocking on his door if something happened to you in that flat we wouldn't have any idea about your safety what what would we do find the police oh my goodness they don't even know we're here if she was inside a house with her ex-husband who's got a violent past and he's really really going to be pissed that she's going to she's going to be here anyway you know you've got one up on him now you really have got one up on him youve found him in [Music] Iran [Applause] [Music] [Applause] overnight there has been a fresh [Music] snowfall the roads are almost impassable but the weather Works in their favor d goes into a second car to watch the back of the building there we go at 6:15 Allison sees ramse leaving the apartment it's his type of walk he tells him the way he [Music] walks hello hi yeah just seeing ramy's yeah I'm just going to follow him and see where he goes you stay where you are all right see you later see you bye [Music] bye hello hi yeah hi it's me we followed him all the way to work that's good that's good he had to get two buses to get there even if someone does alert him it's going to take him ages to get back actually the weather's like this it's really [Music] good I just feel really really great now I just feel really like he's gone to work and I feel I've got all this control I've got this [Applause] power my children think you know they think I'm dead little do they know I'm sitting here in a car yards from them I I want to really I want to get out this car now and I just want to go in there and see them first thing they're going to do out of imine is look out the window and say wow got all the snow the friends will call for them we'll have snowball fights it feel so so happy you know I know I can't take them away just to have even 5 minutes with them be absolutely fantastic be really really really great to have just five minutes with them the severe weather means an impromptu holiday for many of the local [Music] children [Music] hi it's me you stay in the car and I'll go and start a snow fight with those kids hopefully the girls will come out and join us if I could get sman and Rebecca into the car and talk to them and I've got saman's bracelet with me so when she sees that bracelet she'll say I'm sure she'll remember that bracelet I've seen your girls at the window but they're not coming down there's a little Pakistani boy that speaks English he says the girls don't come out much but I'm going to try and get him to go knock on the door I'm going to try and get them to the Courtyard just give me 5 minutes the girls are here now they're definitely them they're wearing the same coats as the ones in the photograph you the the back by the courtyard would have be very strong here i' got to be strong for them you know can't break down quick get around here now [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] no [Music] I got saman's bracelet with me I showed it to her and she looked very very frightened and she got this big snowball went to you know throw it to me but she did it with there was just so much anger there in her [Music] face you know not seeing my children for six and a half years like somebody ripped my heart out and it's like somebody I just put my heart back for the first time I felt like a mother again I felt the first time like a mother [Music] there is no more talk of snatching DA's three days are up I don't airports I you know me for airports I've done enough damage in my life [Music] ater she knows that her record for child kidnap could be a liability for Ellison if they are caught together she's returning home to her own children but Alison sold her Liverpool house to finance this trip and has nothing to go home to ringing hello hello hello [Music] um AA Aisha Sophia hello hello s man Allison AA Volo Vol Vol I love you very much oh why she put the phone down on the time for somebody's telling her to do that hello hello hello um no no no no if if that if that is you ramies um I realize now I'm not going to get the children back but I will drop all the court papers and give you half the money from the house if you come back to Bosnia with the children and I if I can see them three times a year [Music] hello [Music] wish [Music] [Music] a wealth of forensic evidence was found on both Hannah's body and her clothes her blooded coat contained a full DNA profile of Ky but he wasn't on the national DNA database so the police didn't yet know he was the killer what they did know was Hannah had been abducted by an Asian man in a diesel van

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 1,655,939

Keywords: PBS, true crime, Sky, Full length Documentaries, ITV, crime, documentary, Full Documentary, BBC, missing girls, Movies, transgender documentary, Documentaries, kidnapping, Documentary Movies - Topic, tlc, kidnapping documentary, BBC 3, missing children documentary, kidnapped documentary, Channel 5, Channel 4, Amazing Documentaries, BBC Three documentary, timeline, TV Shows - Topic, Real Stories, Topic, BBC Three, only human, Extraordinary people, Amazing Stories, Documentary

Id: 7IeniwBE0Gk

Length: 49min 16sec (2956 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 09 2016