Mother allegedly sent pre-teens to U.K. to avoid welfare officials

The Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday extended by a day the remand of a 38-year-old woman who is suspected of sending off her children, 12 and 9, alone on a flight to London.

The woman's 12-year-old daughter has been in custody of U.K. immigration agents for about a month, after authorities discovered that their mother had put them on the plane without arranging for their supervision upon landing.

The 9-year-old boy was located on Wednesday at the home of his friend's mother.

The mother was detained Tuesday on suspicion of negligence.

Police began investigating the case after the Foreign Ministry was informed that the girl had arrived alone in London with no specified destination.

Immigration authorities in the U.K. refused to permit the girl entry and requested she be sent back to her mother in Israel. However, the mother refused the request and claimed she had sent her daughter to take permanent residence with family friends in London.

The immigration authorities then learned that the woman had sent her 9-year-old son a few days prior to the same family friends.

British police discovered during an initial investigation that the address given to the children does not exist.

Police suspect that the mother sent her children abroad for fear that they would be taken away by Israeli welfare agents due to domestic troubles.

In his decision to extend the woman's remand, Judge Mordechai Peled recommended she undergo psychiatric evaluation.

"The suspect gave a version of events that raise certain peculiarities generating the crucial need for a psychiatric check," Peled wrote. "The circumstances in general indicate neglect on the part of the complainant with regards to her children."