Becky Minnock ‘manipulated press’ after fleeing with son

Ms Minnock, from Highbridge, Somerset, handed herself in to the police in Oxford on Friday night after 17 days on the run with her son, Ethan Williams – sparking a nationwide hunt for the pair. On Monday she was driven to Bristol crown court by friends but did not speak to waiting reporters.

‘Play the press’

The mother-of-one disappeared on 27 May, the day she was meant to hand Ethan over to his father, Roger Williams, 39, following a ruling in the family court.

Judge Wildblood spoke out in open court before he held a private hearing to discuss the boy’s future.

Last week the judge jailed Miss Minnock’s mother, Louise, 52, and her partner, Andrew Butt, 56, after finding them in contempt of court for withholding information about Ethan’s disappearance.

“A singularly unattractive feature of this case that was revealed last week by Mr Butt was that he, and according to him other members of the mother’s family, sought to manipulate the press to their advantage,” he said.

“Mr Butt said in evidence that, when Rebecca Minnock did not achieve what she wanted to achieve in the family litigation, he and others took the view that Rebecca should go into hiding with Ethan to attract the attention of the press.

“Not only is it absurd for anyone to try to ‘play the press’ in that way, because that inevitably backfires, but it is also an utterly irresponsible way to behave from the point of view of the welfare of a child.”

‘Belongs with his mama’

Miss Minnock had earlier told the Daily Mail that she feared she was never going to see Ethan again.

“When I am going to see him. Am I going to be allowed to see him again? That is my biggest fear. Not seeing him again,” she said.

Writing on Facebook ahead of the hearing, Miss Minnock said: “I am preying (sic) that this case gets re looked at properly and the judge can see that my son belongs with his mama who absolutely loves him to bits.”

Ethan, who was born on January 25 2012, has lived with Miss Minnock since his parents separated in February 2013. A custody battle began the following month. Miss Minnock made allegations about Mr Williams which a district judge later ruled were false.

On 27 May, it was found Miss Minnock exposed Ethan to emotional harm and should only have supervised contact with him. It was ordered that the boy should live with Mr Williams full-time.