British ‘child recovery’ agent to face Lebanese judge over kidnapping claims

A British “child recovery” specialist is expected to go before a Lebanese judge on Tuesday accused of kidnapping two children in partnership with their Australian mother, a journalist and a television crew.Adam Whittington, a former Scotland Yard detective described by a UK court as a “former mercenary”, is accused of leading the operation that allegedly saw the children snatched from a south Beirut street last week and briefly reunited with their mother, Brisbane woman Sally Faulkner.

Whittington, Faulkner, and five others, including a journalist from the Australian current affairs program 60 Minutes, were then arrested by Lebanese authorities after the alleged abduction. The children were later returned to their father.

Lebanese authorities have now filed charges against 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown and three of the program’s other team members, according to reports by the Nine Network.

Faulkner says the children’s Lebanese father, Ali al-Amin took them for a holiday to Lebanon in May 2015 and never returned – a claim al-Amin disputes.

The 60 Minutes team was in Lebanon to document the recovery of the children but have not confirmed allegations by Lebanese authorities that they covered Whittington’s AU$115,000 fee (£61,000).

Friends of Faulkner, who has another three-month old child in Australia, told the Guardian on Tuesday of her anguish at losing Lahala, aged six, and Noah, aged four.