Mystery over girl dumped at Tube station (From This Is Local London)

Mystery over girl dumped at Tube station

4:49pm Wednesday 23rd January 2002 in

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A woman has been arrested by detectives trying to piece together the mystery behind a 10-year-old Ethiopian girl abandoned outside Kingsbury Tube station.

Barnet Social Services and police at Whetstone child protection unit are working together to establish how the girl, possibly an illegal asylum seeker, came to find herself in London.

She was discovered abandoned and distressed late at night on December 3 outside the Tube station by an Ethiopian-speaking minicab driver, who took her to social services.

Detective Sergeant Ian Crank, who is leading the investigation, told the Times Group that an Ethiopian woman in her late 50s had been arrested on Tuesday night and bailed until April pending further inquiries.

The girl, who initially claimed her name was Mary Solomon, told police she had been abducted from her home and put on a flight to London.

But officers believe she was flown with a family friend from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa into Heathrow between the end of September and start of October.

She later told police she had been left at the Tube station in Kingsbury Road for more than 40 minutes by the family friend who never returned.

Det Sgt Crank said: "We believe she was deliberately abandoned by her family in the hope that she would find a better life here."

He added that the original name the girl gave was false and police were in the process of confirming her true identity. She is currently staying with a foster family.

"She was not born here and has been with family members while she has been in the country.

"We do not know where she has been staying," said Det Sgt Crank.

Unaccompanied child asylum seekers from Somalia, Ethiopia and Afghanistan are a growing problem.

A social services spokesman said: "It is not common in Barnet this is unusual for us and that is what rather wrongfooted the police to start with."

He said in inner London boroughs, children had been dumped so they could be educated or used as house servants.

"We have got no evidence whatsoever that this girl is in this position.

"The ideal solution is to reunite her with her family as long as she is not at risk."