A FATHER who snatched his son and fled to Turkey has been arrested.

Murat Algin kidnapped his three-year-old son, Adam, from estranged wife Marie and escaped to Istanbul last July.

Mrs Algin, 27, won back her son in a landmark legal judgement.

Adam was flown back to the UK in October when Mrs Algin, of North Shields, North Tyneside, invoked the Hague Convention for the first time in Turkey.

Police arrested Algin, 33, at Heathrow airport, when he returned to London in an attempt to avoid national service. He pleaded guilty to child abduction before North Tyneside magistrates.

But the bench declined jurisdiction and Algin was sent to Crown Court for sentencing, on a date to be fixed.

Detective Inspector Steve Whitfield, of North Shields CID, said: "When Algin left the country, we put measures in place to arrest him and investigate the abduction if he returned to Britain.

"Last week, we were made aware he was planning the trip and alerted posible entry ports.

"This offence caused Adam's mother and her family a great deal of distress. They did not know if they would ever see Adam again.

"This was unknown territory, dealing with the Turkish courts. Our investigating officer, Detective Constable John Ray, worked incredibly hard to acheive what has been a landmark ruling."