A British couple who left their three children alone in a Costa del Sol hotel to go partying have been issued a dramatic ban from seeing their children by a Spanish court.
Incident at Holiday World Resort
The incident took place in the Spanish beach resort of Benalmadena. The children, a baby aged six months, a toddler aged one, and a four-year-old, were found alone at the Holiday World Resort.
Unconfirmed reports previously suggested that the youngest child tested positive for cocaine at a Malaga hospital before being taken into care, although authorities have not commented on this.
Arrest and Sentencing
Spanish police confirmed the arrest of a British man aged 41 and a woman aged 28. The unnamed tourists have now accepted prison sentences of nearly a year and a half each, which were automatically suspended. They have also been banned from seeing their children for two years.
A spokesman for Andalucia's High Court of Justice stated: "Court No. 3 of the Investigating Division of the Court of First Instance of Torremolinos today sentenced two British parents arrested for abandoning their three children to one year and four months in prison for committing the offense of abandonment."
Plea Bargain and Conditions
The sentence was delivered as part of a plea bargain deal after the pair admitted their crime. The ruling also establishes that they are disqualified for two years and eight months from exercising parental authority and for a period of two years will be prohibited from going within 500 meters of the children.
Thanks to the agreement of all parties, the court has suspended the parents' imprisonment on the condition that they do not commit any offenses within a period of two years.
Children's Future
The children are under the guardianship of the Social Services of the Regional Government of Andalusia, which plans to contact the British consulate to arrange for the three children to be transferred to their home country.
