Three children taken from Scotland by their father have been ordered to return to their mother following a years-long international child abduction case that eventually led to Gozo.According to Times of Malta, the children, now aged 15, 13 and 11, were taken from Scotland in October 2023 while their mother was in Ukraine caring for her seriously ill father.Their father admitted taking them from Scotland, but disputed the mother’s account of events and argued that returning them would expose them to psychological and physical harm.What followed was an extraordinary journey across multiple countries, with the children travelling through France, Canada, Mexico, Ukraine, Hungary, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Italy before eventually living in Gozo.The mother told the court that at one point she did not know where her children were for more than a year, accusing their father of repeatedly moving them to make securing their return more difficult.In April 2025, she unexpectedly encountered the children on a train in Spain and subsequently discovered they had been living in Gozo, prompting proceedings in Malta under the Hague Convention.The Maltese court ultimately found that Scotland was the children’s habitual residence and that their father had taken and kept them without their mother’s consent and in breach of her custody rights.It rejected his argument that returning the children would expose them to a serious risk of harm while also considering their own views and the fact they had spent more than a year in Malta.Magistrate Franca Giordmaina ordered their return to Scotland in July. The father appealed, but that appeal was declared null on 1st September by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, Mr Justice Robert Mangion and Madam Justice Simone Grech.The children were consequently ordered to be returned immediately to Scotland, where the court concluded they would be able to maintain relationships with both parents and their half-siblings.•