Parents of Derry family miss court to fly home

A CO DERRY couple whose children were temporarily taken into care after they allegedly passed out in their Portuguese hotel last weekend were believed to be returning to Ireland yesterday.

The husband and wife from Maghera were due to attend a hearing at the Family and Minors Court in Faro yesterday afternoon but did not appear, and were understood to have left the country, along with their children.

"We understand that they have left Portugal and are en route to the UK, but we don't know about their plans once they return to the UK," a spokesman for the British Foreign Office told The Irish Times.

There were no legal restrictions on their movement and there was no obligation for them to appear in court.

"We provided them with consular assistance, [but] it was their decision not to attend the court hearing," the spokesman added.

Hotel staff in Vilamoura in the Algarve called police after the couple, aged in their early 30s, collapsed on Friday night.

They were rushed to a health centre in nearby Loulé while their children - the youngest aged one, and the eldest six - were temporarily taken into care at the Refugio Aboim Ascensao children's home in Faro. The children arrived at the home at 5am on Saturday and remained there until their parents came to collect them at midday after a public attorney ruled that they should be returned.

The director of the children's home, Dr Luis Villas-Boas, told The Irish Times that the couple were "very shocked, shy and tearful" when they collected their children.

The children's mother has said she drank only three beers and reportedly requested details of hospital blood tests taken from her because she was "very surprised" at her reaction, a source close to the couple said.

The source said the reaction could have been because the couple were very tired after waking at 4am to travel to Portugal, and they had been affected by the heat.

The parents and their children arrived at the hotel in Vilamoura last Friday for a one-week holiday. On the same evening, the parents had reportedly been drinking at a nearby bar.

After going out for dinner at about 8pm, they returned to the hotel two hours later, where the father passed out on the sofa in reception and could not be woken up.

The hotel's manager said the children's mother also fell asleep.

Meanwhile, a Co Derry councillor yesterday defended the couple. SDLP Magherafelt councillor Kate Lagan, who knows the family, said allegations that they were heavily drunk were "absolute nonsense" and said they had been "crucified" in recent days.

"She definitely is not a drinker of any kind. People were absolutely astounded when they thought of [her] abandoning the children after a drunken binge. It was just too incredible," Ms Lagan said.

"People in the community are just amazed and disgusted that anybody should think that of that couple." - (Additional reporting, PA)

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times