Mother sues holiday giant Thomas Cook after her daughter, five, 'was abducted by stranger in hijab' while at Turkish hotel's kids' club

Janet Alexander, 46, says youngest daughter, Rosie, was snatched in Antalya
After a 40-minute ordeal another hotel guest spotted youngster near main road
She is now suing the travel firm after accusing them of ignoring her concerns

By Sebastian Murphy-bates For Mailonline

Published: 11:55 BST, 27 June 2018 | Updated: 15:55 BST, 27 June 2018

e-mail

778

View
comments

A mother who claims her five-year-old was abducted from a hotel kids' club is suing the travel agent Thomas Cook.

Janet Alexander claims her daughter Rose was grabbed by a stranger during a family holiday to Turkey.

The senior charge nurse from Inverness says her youngest daughter was taken while at a supervised kids club at Antalya's Royal Wings Hotel, which denies an abduction took place.

After taking her eldest daughter Lois, nine, to a scuba lesson, the 46-year-old says she returned an hour later to discover Rose was missing.

Janet Alexander (left) says her youngest daughter, Rosie (middle), was abducted while they were on holiday in Turkey with her other child Lois (right)

Rosie was found 20 minutes later after Janet says a frantic search for the child was launched described seeing staff turn to a woman in a hijab and speak to her in Turkish.

She claims the ordeal came to an end 40 minutes later when another hotel guest spotted the blonde youngster walking with another woman in a hijab near a main road within the hotel grounds.

There have been no other reports about women in hijabs at the scene and The Royal Wings Hotel told the BBC that an abduction did not take place, adding that the hotel's children's club was safe after Janet claims staff didn't even know the girl was gone. She says she took her two daughters to the local police station after staff failed to answer questions.

Rosie (left) went missing within the hotel grounds, leading Janet (right) to conduct a frantic search for her child

After speaking with an on-duty interpreter, Janet says police said they couldn't look into the matter as Rose was not physically harmed and had been returned safely.

The pupil was invited to 'go for a walk' and thought it was okay as she remembered going for outside walks at pre-school.

The mother of two branded the experience the most traumatic of her life, saying: 'I was completely distraught.

'There was chaos as everybody realised she was missing and started running around and people from around the pool started looking for her.

'I was really quite frozen with fear. This has been the most traumatic experience of my life.

'I thought my daughter was either dead or faced being trafficked and abused.

'People need to realise these staff-led play groups aren't the safe places we believe them to be. I'll never trust Thomas Cook again.'

Janet is now suing Thomas Cook over the alleged incident. The holiday in April this year was the first ever trip abroad for Janet and her daughters. The family was three days into a week-long break when the incident happened.

Janet Alexander from Inverness (pictured with her daughter Rosie) is now suing the travel agent after she says the firm ignored her concerns

The NHS Highland nurse remains shaken by the incident and hasn't been able to return to work due to suffering from extreme anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

She voiced her anger at Thomas Cook and claims the company has not apologised for what went on.

'No matter how much I process things it just leaves me in pieces,' she said. 'I've been shaking and in tears ever since it happened - I even struggle to leave the kids at school now.

'My work, neighbours, family and friends have all been really supportive. Even though they couldn't do anything, the Turkish police were kind and sympathetic.

'But Thomas Cook have been a disgrace - they haven't apologised and have actually gone to great lengths to ignore me.

Rosie (right) and her sister Lois (left) are pictured smiling on the plane, but the holiday took a traumatic turn when the youngest sister went missing

'What happened has changed our whole way of living and without even apology it's like I can't get closure and don't know how to heal.'

She has launched a civil claim stating Thomas Cook failed to respond to repeated calls for help during and after the incident. She hopes the outcome will lead to improved safety standards.

'I think it's terrible that they would leave a family abandoned in a foreign country and not make sure, not only that we were okay, but that the current users of the facilities are okay as well,' she said.

'Because obviously I felt the other children that were using the club were then at risk.'

Simon Richards, Associate with the Foreign and Travel department at Digby Brown Solicitors, is pursuing the legal case which could be worth a five-figure sum.

'Janet and her loved ones understandably feel traumatised by this incident,' he said. 'Thankfully Rose was safely reunited with her family but her abduction had a very serious and lasting detrimental impact.

'The Royal Wings Hotel breached its contractual duties by failing to look after children in its play area but Thomas Cook are ultimately responsible as it is the company who sold the holiday.

'The case is ongoing so it would be inappropriate to comment further.'

A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said: 'We are extremely concerned to hear of this incident. We can only imagine how distressing it must have been for Ms Alexander.

'We have a launched a thorough investigation to understand how this happened and we will work with the hotel to ensure it cannot happen again.'

The Royal Wings Hotel has been contacted for comment.