Tasha Cope has told of her battle to bring her daughter home after her ex-partner took her to Spain and never returned.

Tasha Cope has told of her battle to bring her daughter home after her ex-partner took her to Spain and never returned.

The 23-year-old, of Old Town, now faces the ordeal of taking her case to the High Court in a bid to bring three-year-old Mireya Cerrato-Cope back to the UK.

Mireya was taken to Valencia, in Spain, by her father Andres Cerrato on January 2 to celebrate Spanish Christmas on January 6 with his family.

However the 25-year-old failed to return her on January 22 as planned.

Two days later, a court order was made for Andres to return Mireya, which he failed to adhere to.

More than three months and several court battles later, Tasha has been left with no other option but to take her case higher, which she has been told could cost in the region of £20,000 in court fees.

“It will cost a tremendous amount of money and it is not guaranteed that it will even bring her home,” she said.

“Mireya’s clothes are all untouched in her wardrobe as I can’t bare to look at them because it just upsets me.

“There are some days I don’t leave my room and I just sit there crying feeling helpless as I can’t do anything.

“I find myself just staring at other mothers with their little girls and just wishing she was with me.

“When he told me he wasn’t bringing her back I was at work, and I just couldn’t move, I was devastated, I cried my eyes out.”

The couple met in 2001 while Tasha was living in Valencia with her family.

Their daughter was born in 2008 and in November last year, they moved back to Swindon, where Tasha’s family had also returned to.

“At first he was happy to be here, he went through the process of getting a National Insurance number so he could get work, but then he decided he wasn’t happy and he wanted to return to Spain,” said Tasha.

“We just fell out of love and he returned home in the December.”

Tasha said she is not worried about Mireya’s safety as she knows she is being cared for mainly by her grandmother and that she attends playschool every day, but she said she is worried that her daughter is being cut out from her family in Swindon.

“Her dad doesn’t speak a word of English and one of our main concerns is that she is losing her English and soon she may not be able to communicate with English people. She is being completely cut out.

“I have very little contact with her, it is difficult to maintain a conversation over the phone with a three-year-old anyway, but when I saw her on Skype the other day it broke my heart because she had a tantrum as she wanted to see me so much.

“I am terrified that she is going to think her mum has left her.”

Tasha has arranged a trip to Spain to see her daughter next week but says all contact with her will be supervised.

“I want to be able to cuddle up to her at night times but according to his lawyers, all visits with her have to be under supervision.

“My whole family are just in shock, no one can believe this has happened.

“There are days where I have to go to see my nieces and nephews just so I can mother them as it’s something that I miss and I just have the need to mother someone.”