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| Rebecca Minnock case: Friend admits helping mum disappear | Rebecca Minnock case: Friend admits helping mum disappear |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| A man has admitted helping a mother flee with her young son, after a court ruled he should live with his father. | |
| Family friend Andrew Butt was convicted of contempt of court on Thursday, for telling "a string of lies" about the disappearance of Rebecca Minnock. | Family friend Andrew Butt was convicted of contempt of court on Thursday, for telling "a string of lies" about the disappearance of Rebecca Minnock. |
| He apologised for lying in court but told the judge he did not know where Rebecca and Ethan, three, are now. | |
| The judge said Ms Minnock "should not see herself as being backed into a corner" and urged her to come forward. | |
| Judge Stephen Wildblood QC added: "The strain on this mother now must be immense and, from what I know at present, it appears that matters have simply snowballed from an impulsive decision made by her on 27 May 2015. | |
| "That strain will only increase with the passage of time." | |
| 'Serious offence' | |
| He added: "Everything possible will be done to ensure that Ethan has an effective relationship with both of his parents." | |
| The police chief leading the search has also issued a direct appeal to the mother to contact her to discuss "the best way to get you and Ethan back to some sort of normal life". | |
| Police searching for Ms Minnock and Ethan believe they are being hidden by friends or family. | Police searching for Ms Minnock and Ethan believe they are being hidden by friends or family. |
| Butt is awaiting sentencing and has been warned he has committed "a serious criminal offence" by lying on oath at Bristol Crown Court. | |
| Earlier, the judge also ruled Ms Minnock's mother Louise was prohibited from leaving the court building and has questions to answer in the witness box. He told her: "This time I want the truth." | |
| The case centred around Butt's car - a black Ford Focus - used to drive Ms Minnock and Ethan to Cheltenham on 27 May, the day they went missing. | |
| Butt had denied driving them but changed his story in court on Friday. | |
| He told the court Ms Minnock had asked him, the night before a family court hearing, to help her get away with Ethan. | |
| She had withdrawn £300 at a cash point in Highbridge, Somerset, and Butt had dropped the two in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, where Ms Minnock's aunt lives. | |
| "Basically, the plan was to keep her away for as long as possible and to generate as much publicity as possible," Butt said. | |
| "We felt we weren't getting anywhere. She said no-one was listening. I said: 'People will listen when you go missing'." | |
| He said he did not know where the two were now and had not told the police what had happened because "I didn't want them to catch her." | |
| "We didn't expect it to explode in the manner it has exploded." | |
| The search for Ms Minnock and Ethan has widened to Cheltenham and Birmingham. Media attention has intensified since a judge lifted reporting restrictions on the case. | |
| Miss Minnock has been engaged in a two-year legal battle with Ethan's father Roger Williams over contact with their son. In February, a district judge found she had fabricated allegations against Mr Williams in order to "frustrate contact" between him and Ethan | |
| A social worker reported that Ethan was not "emotionally safe" with his mother. Ethan had been staying with his father four nights a week since February. | |
| The day Ms Minnock disappeared with Ethan, a district judge ruled that the boy should live with his father. |