Abu Dhabi mum: 'My daughters are being kept from me'

Abu Dhabi: A British woman has put up posters across the UAE begging for help in finding her two daughters who she hasn't seen since May 8.

Briton Elizabeth Glanville claims her ex-husband, an Australian expat and a popular physical fitness instructor in the capital, has been keeping the girls, Anais, 2, and Savannah, 4, in hiding against a court order directing him to hand them over to her.

The girls were allegedly last seen in the company of a woman at Spinneys on May 22.

“Please help me find them. They have been deprived of my love and care for too long. I couldn’t even see my younger girl turn two this month [on May 9],” said the woman who says she’s living off money made from selling her wedding ring. “My ex-husband deliberately kept my daughters away from me for the time I was not in the country.

"He allowed only a few Skype sessions and discontinued all lines of communication with the kids and also their nanny. He took away her [nanny’s] Sim card and tracked her internet access to ensure I couldn’t be in touch with her,” said the 34-year-old woman.

Multiple affairs

Elizabeth alleged that things started going bad last summer during a Caribbean cruise when she discovered her husband was having multiple affairs after seven years of marriage. She claims they divorced in November, but continued living in the same house they jointly own. “I had gone for a short break to the US in January when I realised my husband had stopped paying the mortgage.

He knew I could be criminalised for non-payment because the cheques were in my name and I couldn’t step into the UAE after that,” said the professional horse rider who is now out of job. “I finally decided to take a chance, arriving on May 7 on my Australian passport. Thankfully I wasn’t caught at the airport and managed to see my elder daughter at her school the next day,” she adds.

“My husband has since disappeared with the kids despite a court order after I filed a case against him,” she said.