A missing Polegate toddler may be in Spain, her mother has been told.

Danielle Dempster, aged three, was taken by her father John Dempster, his parents and brother from the family home in January.

Mother Anne-Marie Kingshott, of Cavalry Crescent, Eastbourne, had no idea of their whereabouts until a family friend said the Dempsters had phoned from Spain.

Miss Kingshott, 23, said: "They phoned a friend from Alicante.

"I am surprised they managed to get her out though because there was supposed to be an all ports alert and they should have confiscated her passport."

Mr Dempster had taken Miss Kingshott to Croydon in January for a training course. Miss Kingshott realised something was wrong when Mr Dempster failed to return to their hotel room.

She caught the first train back to her former home in Polegate to find the house empty and Danielle gone. The couple had shared the house with Mr Dempster's parents and his brother.

Danielle had been made a ward of the courts and a collection order had been placed on her to remove her from John Dempster and return her to Miss Kingshott.

Miss Kingshott said: "The next step for us is to go back to court next month and get a new court order which will help get her back."