Sisters 'reunited with Birmingham mother'
Two sisters at the centre of a tug-of-love dispute are back in England after disappearing, the High Court has heard.
Officials in three countries were asked for help reuniting Selina Ali, three, and sister Hana, who is nearly two, with Polish mother Edyta Wawrzak, 30, from Birmingham.
They were thought to have been taken to Algeria by their Algerian father, Hamza Ali, 30, the court has heard.
He was arrested earlier this year and is in custody, the court heard.
Mrs Justice Hogg heard the children had disappeared in early February and asked for help at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London last month.
The judge, who gave permission for the youngsters' disappearance to be publicised, was told the children were thought to have been taken by their father in breach of court orders that they should live with their mother.
During last month's hearing, Clare Renton, a barrister representing Ms Wawrzak, told the judge the girls were thought to be living with members of their father's family in Algiers and it was hoped a relative might bring them to England.
Reunited with mother
But she warned at the time the children might have problems obtaining travel documentation which would allow them to re-enter the UK because of their parents' nationalities.
Mrs Justice Hogg then asked British officials at the UK Border Agency and the Foreign Office, plus officials in the Polish and Algerian embassies in London, to do what they could to help.
On Wednesday, at another hearing in the Family Division of the High Court, Miss Renton said the children had returned to England on Tuesday and had been reunited with their mother - a hotel housekeeper from Sosnowiec, Poland.
Another judge, Mr Justice Cobb, who said the children's return could be reported, said Polish embassy officials had obtained travel documents for the girls.
He said they had been accompanied on their journey back to England but did not say who by.
Mr Ali, a mechanic whose family live in Algiers, was arrested at an airport earlier this year after returning from Algeria alone and remained in custody, the court heard.