Rebecca Minnock Loses Custody & Flees With Son, Friend Charged With Contempt

Rebecca Minnock, 35, was on a run for over two weeks with her 3-year-old son, Ethan. This was after losing the custody battle against ex-partner Roger Williams, 39.

Minnock and Williams separated in 2013. The separation started the battle for Ethan's custody. However, since then, before the district judge decided who should look after the child, Ethan has been living with his mother, Minnock, BBC News has learned.

On May 27, the district judge decided to give Ethan's custody to his father, Williams. This was after discovering that Minnock made false allegations and has been preventing Williams to visit the child. The decision was not taken by Minnock lightly; she disappeared with Ethan afterwards.

Minnock's disappearance has led to Andrew Butt's conviction of contempt after helping her getaway with her son. Butt, partner of Minnock's mother, was arrested on Wednesday.

However, Butt was not cooperative with the police. A police detective reported that Butt said, "Me and my family would all rather do 10 years in prison rather than tell you where they are."  

When asked why he said those words, Butt remarked that those words were spoken out of anger.  Butt compared betraying family members to betraying one's king and country and remained mum about his knowledge on Minnock's disappearance and insisted he doesn't know where she is, The Guardian reports.

Despite Butt's persistent denial on Minnock's whereabouts, Judge Stephen Wildblood QC was not convinced. In a report from The Guardian, Wildblood was sure that Butt drove Minnock and son from Somerset to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. Wildblood added that what Butt said to the police was a "string of lies."

CCTV cameras caught Minnock being dropped off by Butt on the morning she disappeared. In response to the video, Butt said that he dropped Minnock nearby a shop believing that she will take the train to Bristol to attend the court hearing. He insisted that he has no one with him on his trip to Cheltenham, adding that he went there to visit his elderly mother.

Police are still searching for Minnock and her son; they tried to search for them in Cheltenham and the West Midlands. On Wednesday, Minnock broke her silence by calling the Sun newspaper and informed them that her reason for running away was due to the feeling of being "trapped."

In a report from Mail Online, Minnock admitted to be monitoring her case on the television news. Minnock told the site, "I know I'm going to get caught but I'm also praying and hoping that somebody, anybody, will just look at all of this. It's a sad, desperate situation."  

In the same report, Minnock admitted that she is considering the thought of surrendering to the police but she just cannot contain the thought of losing her son.

Minnock cannot tell until when she can keep her current situation of being a fugitive and for that reason, she kept her family unaware of where she really is.