Reunited: Tracey with daughter Lisa

When her son and daughter were abducted by their own dad and taken to Pakistan, Tracey never gave up hope

For years every night, Tracey Martin dreamt about her children.

She wondered how they had changed since she last saw them, how their hair was styled, what subjects they enjoyed at school, if indeed they were even going to school.

When the phone rang she would race to answer it, hoping it might be one of their voices on the other end. But it never was.

For Tracey’s children Gary and Lisa were just nine and six when her estranged husband abducted them before taking them 10,000 miles away to Pakistan, saying she would never see them again.

But more than 10 long years later, Tracey has finally found peace after being reunited with her lost children.

“It felt like a living torture,” recalls Tracey, 42.

“I missed them more than words can say. Not knowing what had truly happened to them was the worst pain I had ever experienced.

“Every day I prayed Lisa and Gary would find me and I’d be their mum again.”

Tracey, from Derby, was just 17 when she met British-born Mohammed Taz Michael, known as Taz, then 18, in a nightclub.

They dated for three years before marrying in 1989 when she was 20.

“Looking back I was definitely very young and naive. But initially everything was fine between us, we were in love,” she recalls.

But after giving birth to Gary in 1991 and Lisa in 1993, Tracey noticed a change in Taz, whose family were from Pakistan but lived in the UK.

“He became possessive and controlling. I wasn’t allowed to see friends, and I dedicated my life to our children.

“But Taz showed no interest in them. He just wanted to carry on with his own life. He didn’t work, he just hung out with his friends,” says Tracey.

“By the time Gary was nine and Lisa was six, I couldn’t take anymore. Knowing he wouldn’t just let me leave, I secretly plotted with my parents to leave and go to them.”

 Pakistan: Taz, Gary, Lisa and their stepmother

But Taz, now 41, suspecting his wife was up to something, had been secretly recording her as she made phone arrangements.

“One afternoon he announced he knew my plans,” recalls Tracey.

“Taz wasn’t violent but he had a nasty temper. When my dad came round to see if I was OK, he persuaded Taz to let me go home with him.

"I begged him to let me take the children but Taz refused. I was distraught, the kids were confused.”

Tracey started divorce and custody proceedings. “I was convinced I would win.

"Although I was sure Taz wouldn’t hurt the children, he had no relationship with them. Whenever I spoke to them they asked when I was coming home.

“He allowed me to see the children twice a week. I hugged them, promising I’d get them back. Naively I thought the courts would sort everything out.”

But in September 2000, Tracey arrived at the family terraced home only to find it empty.

“The house was locked up and, looking through the letter box, I saw Taz’s motorbike in the kitchen.

“He only kept it there when he went away. I went cold.

“I just knew he’d taken the children. I rang my solicitor and went as quick as I could to the police.”

After making checks, an officer told Tracey that Taz and the children had all boarded a flight to Pakistan a couple of days earlier from Birmingham Airport.

“I broke down in hysterics. That night, Taz texted saying, ‘Gary and Lisa say goodbye for ever’.

"Later he emailed saying, ‘You will never see your children again. Gary and Lisa hate you’. The pain was unbearable.”

Tracey’s fears grew worse as the police and the Foreign Office explained they had limited power to help, as Pakistan wasn’t part of the Hague Convention, a treaty aiding the return of abducted children.

“All I had left was a few toys and clothes I’d salvaged from the house.

"Every night I held on to their little T-shirts, praying Taz would bring them back to me,” says Tracey.

 Snatched: Gary before he was taken to Pakistan

After three months of silence, Taz finally rang from Pakistan and allowed Tracey to speak to Lisa.

“He warned he’d end the call if I asked where they were.

"I fought back the tears as her frightened voice asked, ‘When are you coming Mummy? I’ve got no toys, will you send my doll and pram?’.

“Before I could stop myself I said, ‘I don’t know where you are, sweetheart’. Suddenly the line went dead. I cried for days after.”

In desperation, Tracy contacted Reunite, a charity specialising in international child abduction, who helped her start court proceedings in Birmingham.

But it could not be established where the children were.

Tracey considered flying to Pakistan herself but was told it was too dangerous, and it was another two years before Taz rang again.

“He said if I sent money I could speak to the children. I did, and when I spoke to Gary he said his new name was Muhammad Iblal Tariq.

“A few seconds later, the phone went dead.”

That was the last contact Tracey had for nine years.

“Living had no point. I was grieving, but part of me had to stay strong and remain hopeful that one day I would see Lisa and Gary again.

“I made appeals on GMTV and This Morning. I even hired a private detective, but it led to nothing.”

Six years after Taz vanished, Tracey finally obtained a divorce, and in 2007 she met Colin, 48, a taxi driver, and the couple married soon after.

But she never stopped thinking of Gary and Lisa. “I constantly wondered what they looked like. Did Gary still have his cheeky smile, was Lisa’s hair still long and dark?”

And with her new husband, she never stopped looking for them.

Finally, in June 2010 Colin found a teenage boy on Facebook that resembled Gary.

Innocence: Lisa when she was at school

“I didn’t dare get my hopes up but within hours Gary sent a message back saying, ‘Hi Mum, it’s been a long time’. I thought my heart would burst.

“Ten years had passed since I’d last seen him. My little boy was now a 19-year-old man.

“I desperately wanted to hold him in my arms.”

Tracey and Gary spent all night exchanging messages.

“He’d wanted to find me for years but his dad had refused to give any information.

"He claimed I wanted nothing to do with them, and at one point even said I was dead.

“But Gary had found articles from British newspapers hidden in the house about the abduction.”

Gary told Tracey that Taz had since moved back to the UK without his family.

Meanwhile, Gary had left the house in Pakistan where Taz’s new wife still lived with Lisa.

“I was sickened. I couldn’t believe Taz had just abandoned our children in Pakistan.”

Over the following months Tracey kept in touch with Gary, sending him money for clothes, college and rent.

Then, incredibly, a year later, Taz’s wife contacted Tracey saying she wanted to send Lisa back to her.

“She was fed up of caring for her. She even let me talk to Lisa. She said, ‘Hi Mum, I’ve missed you’. They were words I’d dreamt about for so long.”

After arranging a passport with the British Embassy in August last year, Lisa flew home to Tracey.

Found: Gary was on Facebook

“She’d gone from six to 17. But when a timid teenager appeared in Birmingham airport arrivals in a traditional sari, looking scared and anxious, I knew it was her.

“Tears poured down my cheeks as I hugged her. The memories of how I used to cuddle her when she was a little girl came flooding back.

“I feared Lisa would blame me for what happened but there was an instant connection between us. She said she was just relieved to be home.”

That night Lisa and Tracey stayed up late talking.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She explained she’d been brought up in terror and squalor. Her stepmum whipped her if she didn’t do as she was told.

“Some days she had nothing to eat and was terrified of Taz. I was horrified. He’d never wanted our children but had taken them to punish me.

“It took time for Lisa to adjust. She had never been cuddled and was scared to make eye contact as she believed it was disrespectful.”

Slowly adapting to her new life, Lisa enrolled at college, made friends and started rebuilding her relationship with her mum.

In November last year Taz, now using the name Mohammed Tariq, was arrested and in May he pleaded guilty to taking a child out of the UK without appropriate consent at Derby crown court.

He was sentenced to five years in prison. A 10-year restraining order was also imposed, preventing him contacting Tracey or Lisa.

“I’m pleased he’s behind bars but it’s not long enough. They were brought up in horrendous conditions, believing I didn’t love them and that I was dead.

"No prison sentence can compensate for that,” she says.

Tracey speaks to Gary, now, 21 on Skype. He is settled in Pakistan with no plans to come back to the UK.

But she and Lisa are enjoying being mum and daughter.

“Lisa still hasn’t stopped fearing she’ll be abducted again, but she’s slowly feeling more safe.

"We spend hours talking and I constantly hug and kiss her.

"I paid the biggest price for daring to try to leave Taz, but I’m determined never to lose my daughter again,” she says.

By Michelle Rawlins

Source: mirror.co.uk