Internet Babies Adopted Mother Arrested for Theft

L O N D O N, Feb. 22, 2001 -- There's no end to the troubles dogging the Welsh 'mother' at the center of a bitter trans-Atlantic Internet adoption row.

First, there were damning reports in the British media that Judith and Alan Kilshaw Buckley in North Wales hired a "ghostbuster" to flush out their farmhouse after the couple was allegedly "troubled" by ghosts.

Now, Mrs. Kilshaw has been picked up by London police for allegedly stealing $36,000 worth of traveler's checks.

According to a report in a British newspaper, Mrs. Kilshaw ordered the travelers' checks before going to the U.S. where the couple paid a $12,000 fee to a baby broker for twin infant girls.

It is believed Mrs. Kilshaw had been handed the checks by a travel agent who thought she had prepaid.

The paper quotes Mrs. Kilshaw as saying, "I took them and I used them. I didn't think it was stealing since they were given to me."

"We can confirm that a 47-year-old woman from Buckley was arrested yesterday on suspicion of theft and questioned at Mold police station," a police spokesman told Reuters. "She has now been released on police bail. No charges have been brought against her."

The Kilshaws have been locked in a custody battle for the twins with California couple Richard and Vickie Allen, who were originally matched with the children by the Internet broker.

Further Complications

The Kilshaws brought the twins to Britain in January but the girls are currently in the care of local authorities while the courts decide what to do in a complicated case that has sparked off a debate on both sides of the Atlantic.

The tug-of-war for the twins, known in Britain as Belinda and Kimberley, reached a peak when the birth mother, Tranda Wecker, a former receptionist from St. Louis, Mo., joined the custody battle claiming she wanted the children back.

Wecker's lawyers told reporters the birth mother blamed her ex-husband, Aaron Wecker and their troubled relationship for her decision to put her children up for adoption.

The twins were advertised on the Internet by a broker who runs a Web site called Caring Heart Adoption. The Allens responded to the ad, dishing out $6,000 for the twins, who were originally named Kiara and Keyara.

They raised the babies for two months and were in the process of legalizing the adoption when, they claim, Wecker asked to see the twins for a "final farewell."

Racing to Britain With the Babies

The Allens claim the twins were snatched back by Wecker and the Internet adoption agency in order to be "resold."

The Kilshaws claim they knew nothing of this until they arrived in California where they were handed the twins in the San Diego hotel.

According to the Kilshaws, the Allens then pursued the British couple in a race across the U.S. to Arkansas, where adoption laws are more flexible. The Kilshaws won the first leg of the race when they managed to fly the girls back to their farmhouse in North Wales.

A Media Circus

But the wrangle has continued in the media and the courts. Earlier this month, the Kilshaws and the Allens confronted each other in person for the first time, on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

After the show, the Kilshaws were served with court papers by the Allens alleging they abducted the girls.

The British media has been critical of the Welsh couple, roundly condemning them for "buying babies on the Internet" and inviting "ghostbusters" to purge out a white ghost-like figure they called the "milky man."

The Kilshaws have frequently derided the British media backlash, calling it "unfair." The couple has said they had "had enough of Britain" and would soon move to America.

ABCNEWS' Linda Albin in London contributed to this report.