A BATTLING mother has launched a campaign to raise the money needed to progress an investigation into the suspected kidnapping of her baby daughter.

Ruth Appleby has been fighting for justice since discovering in 2010 that she and her daughter Rebecca may have been victims of Spain’s baby snatching scandal.

Ms Appleby, of Catterick Garrison, gave birth to Rebecca in Spain in 1992 but was told by hospital staff that her child had died.

It later transpired that the remains given to her appeared to be those of a larger infant and now Ms Appleby is trying to raise £5,000 for DNA testing that will establish whether they are her daughter’s remains or not.

The police investigation into the case has stalled but Ms Appleby hopes that if the DNA testing proves she was given another child’s remains, then the authorities will be forced to reopen the case and find where the real Rebecca is.

Ms Appleby said: “I really expect that it (the DNA) won’t match because I actually saw the skeleton and it was too big, but I won’t know for sure until I get the actual evidence to back that up.

“In my heart of hearts I don’t think for a minute it will match my DNA but if it did I would accept it and I would move on because I would know what I am dealing with.”

Ms Appleby has set up a fundraising page to help raise the money needed for the DNA mitochondrial sequencing - the method used recently to identify Richard III’s remains.

She also explained that this week is a particularly difficult time as Sunday marks Rebecca’s 25th birthday.

She said: “I used to get the candles and flowers out but since this all came to light I can’t do that anymore because I don’t believe she is dead.

“My partner came up with a good idea and said we can celebrate what we do know, and that is that she was definitely born on that day.

“So we are going to do that; it is about changing it to a positive.”

Ms Appleby’s campaign to uncover the truth about her daughter’s whereabouts saw her travel to Madrid in the spring on a fact-finding mission led by members of the European Parliament Petitions Committee.

They got involved after North-East MEP Jude Kirton-Darling took up Ms Appleby’s case and vowed to try and get some answers from the authorities – including church and medical establishments – said to be involved in the trafficking of some 300,000 babies from the early 1950’s to the late 1990s.

Ms Appleby is also due to meet with Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan on Thursday to explore investigation avenues.