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Grandmother of missing British toddler jailed for lying about his disappearance

The grandmother of toddler Ethan Williams, whose mother fled with the boy after losing a custody ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

19.57 12 Jun 2015


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Grandmother of missing British...

Grandmother of missing British toddler jailed for lying about his disappearance

Newstalk
Newstalk

19.57 12 Jun 2015


Share this article


The grandmother of toddler Ethan Williams, whose mother fled with the boy after losing a custody battle, has been jailed for lying about his disappearance.

Louise Minnock has been sentenced to 10 days, while her partner Andrew Butt got 28 days for telling police a "pack of lies".

Butt was interviewed by police on Wednesday after being served with a court order to hand three-year-old Ethan over to authorities.

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He allegedly told police: "Me and my family would all rather do 10 years in prison rather than tell you where they are."

Rebecca Minnock, 35, went missing with Ethan from her Somerset home more than two weeks ago.

Their disappearance came after a court ruled the boy should live with his father following a long-running custody battle.

Judge Wildblood QC told Mr Butt he had "continued to lie" about where in Cheltenham he had dropped Ethan and his mother on 27 May.

He said Butt knows "precisely where Rebecca Minnock and Ethan Williams went that day".

Butt initially told police the last time he had seen Minnock was the day before she went missing with Ethan.

The judge also warned him that if he continues to hold back information his sentence could be extended.

However, he admitted that Butt probably no longer knows where the boy is.

Sky's Richard Suchet, at the Bristol court, said Butt was also told he could "purge" his contempt by deciding to reveal everything he knows.

'Untruthful evidence'

Louise Minnock was jailed for giving "untruthful evidence" to the court on 9 June.

The judge said she had showed "flagrant disobedience" over the order that the boy should live with his father.

He told her Butt's evidence had "forced" her to admit Ethan had been taken to Cheltenham - and that otherwise she would have kept quiet.

Speaking outside the court, Butt appealed - via his solicitor - for Rebecca Minnock to give herself up.

The statement said: "Becky, you need to seriously need look at the situation. It’s only going to get worse – not just for you, but for all of us.

"There are some very good people who will help and support you … We have made our point, we have got out support, come home."

The jail terms for Ethan's grandmother and her partner come after police made a direct appeal to Rebecca Minnock to give herself up.

In a YouTube video, DCI Marie Wright said: "You’ve said that you think you’re going to be in a huge amount of trouble for what you’ve done, but I want to make sure that you and Ethan are safe and we need to reach a solution that's best for you both.

"I know what you’ve said to the newspapers is that you want to hand yourself in, and I want to talk to you about how we can do that together."

The judge in the case has assured her that she will still have access to her son if she hands herself in.

Rebecca Minnock has contacted several papers to say she fled because she felt "trapped" - and that while she has thought about giving herself up, each time she looks at her son, she thinks she "can't do that".

In her latest interview, Miss Minnock said she knows what she has done is wrong and realises she cannot stay in hiding forever.
"I'm very realistic, I know I will be caught and he'll be taken from me," she told the Daily Mail.


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