Mum GUILTY of risking her two kids’ lives by sailing them in dinghy across Channel after leaving wife for sperm donor
A BRITISH woman has been found guilty of risking the lives of her two children after sailing them across the Channel in a dinghy while on the run from her ex-wife.
Lauren Etchells, 33, originally from South Shields, was found in Jersey in July three years after leaving Tasha Brown, 45, to be with the couple’s sperm donor.
She was today convicted on two charges of causing risk of harm to her children after making the 16-mile trip from Portbail, France to Jersey without taking basic safety precautions.
The school teacher shared a home with Brown on Vancouver Island, Canada until she ran away with South African businessman Marco van der Merwe in 2016.
Etchells and Brown already had a daughter, now four, when Etchells became pregnant by van der Merwe.
Brown had understood that van der Merwe was acting only as a sperm donor, but she and Etchells later split up.
ON THE RUN
An order from a Canadian court prohibited Etchells from leaving the country, but in May 2016 she and van der Merwe flew to Gatwick with both children, and are thought to have gone from the UK to France.
Etchells and her parents, with whom she had originally moved to Canada, were arrested on July 2 after locals spotted their boat trying to land on Jersey amid a high tide.
Etchells’s parents had intended to drop her off with the children and return to France, but were forced to go to shore because of the conditions.
An international arrest warrant meant Etchells would have been unable to travel back to the UK from France by plane because she would have been arrested and likely deported back to Canada.
Speaking after Etchells was found, Brown said: “I am celebrating.
“I am also grateful for the love I received from the friends and family who kept me going during the lowest of lows.
“I guess a person can survive on hope. Thank you all for this reminder.”
She denied putting the children at risk, and claimed the family had been on holiday in France and decided to “pop over to Jersey for a visit”.
Magistrates at a St Helier court said she had failed to take basic safety precautions, taking no radio for emergency calls, not notifying anyone of what she was doing, and using only a single, 15hp outboard motor.
Her parents were convicted of aiding and abetting their daughter.
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All three had earlier pleaded guilty to immigration offences.
They will be sentenced at a hearing on January 20.
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