UPDATE: 4.04pm

THE four children who disappeared following a High Court care dispute were discovered in Blackwood, Gwent, a hearing in London was told earlier today.

Mr Justice Roderic Wood heard at the High Court that Jessica, Tomas, Eva and David Palacin Jones, who are aged between 14 and eight, should be reunited with their father soon, after being found safe and well.

Their Spanish father, Tomas Palacin Cambra, 52, was making arrangements to travel from his home in Majorca to collect the youngsters, lawyers said. Mr Justice Roderic Wood asked the public for help tracing the children yesterday, saying he was "very concerned’’.

The judge today expressed his gratitude to journalists who highlighted the children's disappearance and thanked members of the public who had helped police find them. "The children have been found.

"They were found in Blackwood. They were found shortly after 11am,’’ barrister Edward Devereux, for Mr Palacin Cambra, told the judge. "The children are safe and well.’’ Mr Devereux said it was hoped the children would be reunited with their father by tomorrow."

The father, perhaps understandably, has been deeply distressed by the events of the last few days,’’ said Mr Devereux. "He is frankly overjoyed by what has happened (today).’’ He said the children would stay together at a foster home in the care of social workers until they could be reunited with their father.

 

 

UPDATE: 11.20pm

THE four children missing from Llanelli have been found in Gwent, police have confirmed.

Dyfed Powys police said they are now working with family and authorities "to ensure their on-going safety."

They added that the children were found in the Gwent area just after 11am this morning.

Jennifer Jones, 46, disappeared with the children from West Wales yesterday after a judge ordered her to return them to their Spanish father.

At a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London, Mr Justice Roderic Wood had said he was "very concerned’’ for Jessica, Tomas, Eva and David Palacin Jones.

He said the "vulnerable" youngsters - aged between 14 and eight - had gone missing from their mother Jennifer Jones' house in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, and "must be found".

The children had been in the care of their Spanish father Tomas Palacin Cambra, 52, who lives in Majorca, said the judge.

Ms Jones, 46, who teaches English as a second language, had "abducted" the children then "defied" a High Court order to return them to her divorced husband, he added.

Mr Justice Roderic Wood said he had ordered the children's "immediate removal" from their mother at a High Court hearing on Monday.

But police had found them gone when they went to Ms Jones' home early yesterday. "They must be found. I ask anyone who knows where they are or might have seen them to tell this court or the local police.’’