A WOMAN who is fighting for the truth about her daughter who she was told had died in a Spanish hospital 23 years ago has launched a website in a bid to help others.

Ruth Appleby, from Colburn, lived in Spain with her then-husband Howard when their daughter Rebecca was due to be born.

Despite a normal pregnancy and Mr Appleby holding the apparently healthy baby girl after her birth in December 1992, the parents were later given the devastating news that Rebecca had died, and were not able to see her again.

It was not until 2010, when Mrs Appleby made the decision to have the body of Rebecca exhumed and cremated to bring her to North Yorkshire, that she realised something was wrong.

The casket contained remains of a much older child, leading Mrs Appleby to the conclusion that she had been a victim of Spanish baby traffickers and has been living with the hope that Rebecca is potentially alive after being illegally adopted.

Since then she has spoken to the petitions committee at the European Parliament to appeal for support in opening a police investigation in Spain where there is reluctance to delve into the country’s history of baby trafficking by the Catholic Church since the Franco era in the 1930s. She set up her website, One Lonely Voice, to tell her remarkable story and to urge others who fear they might be a victim of the crime, to get in touch.

Ruth has now secured the support of a famous international lawyer, Baltasar Garzón, who supports human rights cases against alleged war crimes, including those carried out under General Franco's dictatorship.

In May this year, Ruth's lawyers appealed to the court in yet another attempt to have the police investigation reopened. Documents were sent to the Spanish Constitutional Court in Madrid citing further evidence, seeking a review of the lower court’s decisions and demonstrating the need for an official police investigation. The Constitutional Court has yet to hear the petition.

Mrs Appleby said: “More people coming forward will help strengthen all of our cases. I’ve already heard from other victims in the UK, there could be many more out there.

“Baltasar Garzón believes in my case and it means such a great deal to me – I knew of him from when I lived in Spain and he was fighting for justice for victims of atrocities from the dictatorship. “I felt like I was one lonely voice trying desperately to be heard by the Spanish legal system, which throughout has been so frustrating.”

Visit www.onelonelyvoice.co.uk.