NEW laws to protect babies being adopted abroad and brought to Britain are to be pushed through Parliament, following the transatlantic battle for the Internet twins.

The urgency to put more stringent controls in place was highlighted by the adoption row over the six-month-old twins brought out of the US by Alan and Judith Kilshaw.

Following the case the Department of Health decided to speed up changes in the law.

A spokesman for the Heath Department said: "We are accelerating it because of that case, the whole principle being that children who are adopted abroad have the same safeguards as those adopted in this country."

Those attempting to dodge the new laws could face up to three months in prison and a fine of £600.

The aim of the new regulations, which are set to be in place by April, is to make it an offence to bring a child into England and Wales for adoption unless prospective parents have a proper home study report completed and have been deemed suitable by a local authority or approved voluntary adoption agency.

Last week, The Northern Echo revealed how easy it was to adopt a baby over the Internet when reporters posing as prospective parents were offered a child from the former Soviet Union.

If we had gone ahead, we would have been charged service fees of about £13,000.

The story prompted Health Secretary Alan Milburn to pledge an investigation into baby trading on the Internet.

The new adoption laws were unveiled yesterday as Mr and Mrs Kilshaw, of Buckley, North Wales, were preparing to fight a High Court action tomorrow to make their twin girls wards of court.

The girls, who were brought back to Britain after the Kilshaws used an Internet baby broker to adopt them from America, are at pres ent in the care of social workers.

Flintshire County Council's director of education and children's services, Keith McDonogh, said: "We have always believed that the future of these children should be determined by a considered legal process in view of all the issues involved, including complex legal, practical and international dimensions."

Yesterday, the Kilshaws angrily denied newspaper allegations that they practised witchcraft.

Mrs Kilshaw, 47, hit back at reports that she was a black magic witch who prowled round a baby's grave. "I am not a witch," she said.

"My children will tell you, my friends that know me will tell you that. They are saying anything they want to say about us."

Mrs Kilshaw, a mother-of-four, claimed the media controversy over the adoption of Belinda and Kimberley had destroyed their lives and ruined the family business.

"We are ordinary people," she said. "A family that has been plunged into this. We have had no peace, no dignity. They won't let us breathe.

"How can you do this to us? You have ruined out children's lives. You have ruined our business. You have ruined us and we have nothing left.

"What can we do? Where can we go now? We can't go home. We have got no money to go anywhere. We are destitute."

However, the couple said they had no regrets about the Internet adoption which sparked the row.

"I don't regret being involved with the children," Mrs Kilshaw said.

"We want the children back. They are our children. We are not witches. I want someone to come forward with evidence.

"We don't do magic, we have never done magic, we are just a regular family."