'Stolen baby' mother petitions EU over Spanish inquiry

Ruth Appleby believes her baby could be one of thousands taken at birth in Spain

A mother who thinks her baby was stolen at birth in Spain has prompted the European Parliament to urge the Spanish authorities to investigate further.

Ruth Appleby was told her daughter died after she gave birth in 1992 but later learnt thousands of Spanish babies were taken and given up for adoption.

Mrs Appleby, from North Yorkshire, had appealed to the EU over the lack of progress in her case.

The EU Committee on Petitions said it would contact the Spanish government.

A spokeswoman for the Parliament said: "The petition will be referred to the committee's new working group on children's rights.

"They also decided to send a letter to the Spanish authorities in order to encourage them to take the next steps."

'Huge vacuum'

Mrs Appleby, from Catterick Garrison, gave birth by Caesarean section at a hospital in La Coruna in northern Spain but the following day was told that the child had died.

"I never got to see my baby. We asked many times but we were never allowed to see her."

Spain's 'Niños robados' (stolen children)

• The practice began in the late 1930s under the fascist regime of dictator General Francisco Franco aimed at removing babies from families deemed "undesirable"

• By the 1950s it is thought organised criminal gangs had become involved selling infants for adoption to make profits

• Nuns, priests, nurses and doctors have been implicated in the mass theft and trafficking of infants

• It is estimated that as many as 300,000 children could have been taken

• Several organisations in Spain dedicated to reuniting stolen babies with their birth parents have been formed in recent years

When her daughter's remains were exhumed for cremation in 2010 Mrs Appleby said the skeleton she saw in the coffin appeared to be of a much older infant.

The following year she heard about the scandal of stolen babies in Spain and immediately thought there were similarities with her own daughter's case.

"It just started all sorts of doubts," she said. "For 19 years we believed that she had suddenly been taken ill and inexplicably died. It leaves a huge vacuum."

In 2012, she contacted the police in England who referred her case to the Spanish authorities, but she was unhappy with their handling of the case and petitioned the European Parliament.

Her petition was heard alongside similar ones from Spanish nationals.