MEP on fact-finding mission to seek answers over baby trafficking in Spain

North Yorkshire mum Ruth Appleby has been fighting for years to uncover the truth behind the fate of her baby daughter Rebecca who was born in the Spanish city of La Coruna in 1992.

Mrs Appleby and her then husband Howard were told by nurses that Rebecca had died shortly after the birth.

In 2010 when Mrs Appleby decided to move to Colburn, near Richmond, she organised for Rebecca’s remains to be buried back in North Yorkshire.

It was during that process that the shocking discovery was made that the remains appeared not to be those of her daughter, but of an older toddler.

Since then, Mrs Appleby has campaigned for the truth after learning of the scandal of illegal baby trafficking in Spain whereby babies were allegedly stolen from hospitals to sell to adoptive parents.

Her cause has been supported by North-East MEP Jude Kirton-Darling who is now flying to Spain on Monday with members of the European Parliament Petitions Committee on a fact-finding mission.

The committee is due to meet with representatives of the Spanish state, lawyers, journalists, victims and the Catholic Church in a bid to uncover more evidence of what may have happened to Rebecca and others like her.

Ms Kirton-Darling said: “I am proud that I will lead the visit and hope that I can contribute to help reveal the truth about these precious stolen babies, an issue that that reaches beyond Spain’s borders.

“In the Petitions Committee we see that time and time again, people come with nowhere else to turn.

“As a member of the committee we cannot always ‘solve’ problems or right wrongs immediately but we can sometimes offer hope to people where previously there might have been none, and help them take a step towards the justice they seek.

“In Madrid, I’ll be standing with Ruth and the other petitioners in their struggle.”

There are said to be more than 1,500 cases of suspected illegal trafficking of babies in Spain over four decades until the 1980s.