A MOTHER who went on a exotic holiday leaving her three children with a 15-year-old babysitter was arrested by police at a North-East airport this morning on suspicion of neglect.

Kelly Ann Piggford, also known as Kelly Rogerson, 23, from the Red Hall estate in Darlington, spent two weeks in the Turkish resort of Marmaris.

Her three children, two girls aged four and two, and an 11-month-old boy, were taken into care by social services on Tuesday, June 14, before they were placed with their father Melvin Jenkinson, in the Haughton area of the town.

Miss Piggford has insisted she left the children in the care of 20-year-old Dan Lowe, who is their godfather, and not the 15-year-old girl.

But at around 5am this morning Miss Piggford was arrested by police officers at the Durham Tees Valley Airport, as she got off a flight from Dalaman in Turkey.

A police spokesman said: "We have arrested a 23-year-old woman on suspicion of neglect after she landed at Durham Tees Valley Airport in the early hours of the morning on a flight from Turkey.

"She was taken to the police station in the town and interviewed by detectives from the vulnerability unit who had been investigating alongside colleagues from social services.

"The woman has now been released on police bail to return later in the summer. Our inquries continue."