How did Megan Stammers manage to travel using her mum's passport?

PA

Megan Stammers returned back home to Eastbourne, East Sussex yesterday, eight days after she left Britain on a Dover-Calais ferry with her maths teacher, Jeremy Forrest.

Astonishingly, it has now emerged that the 15-year-old schoolgirl was using her 37-year-old mother's passport to travel, raising questions about security at British and French border control.

The Independent reports that Megan and Jeremy Forrest, 30, had driven from Calais to Paris in his black Ford Fiesta, before abandoning it near Montparnasse station on Wednesday and travelling 400 miles to Bordeaux by train.

After arriving in the town, Mr Forrest had started to look for cash-in-hand bar work. He was spotted by a local who contacted French police and the pair were then picked up on Friday lunchtime, as they walked hand-in-hand down Bordeaux's pedestrianised shopping street, the Rue Sainte-Catherine.

According to the Daily Star, officials are now investigating how Megan managed to leave the country using Danielle Wilson's documents.

Diplomats arranged for Megan to fly back to Gatwick Airport without a valid passport, and measures were taken to protect her from media attention. The Independent reports that her easyJet flight was diverted to the north terminal, two Sussex police officers waited at arrivals and she was taken through a different exit to avoid the press. She was later reunited with her mother in private.

While Megan headed home, Mr Forrest spent the night at France's high-security Gradignan prison.

He was arrested on suspicion of child abduction and will appear in court on Tuesday, before returning to the UK to face charges.

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