A RELIEF worker at the centre of child smuggling allegations in Romania turned to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph to pass on messages of hope to his family.

Former Great Harwood businessman John Boast is being prevented from leaving the troubled country after being accused of taking a baby from a children's hospital and bringing it to Britain.

The child is the one which was handed to Yorkshire couple Robert and Helen Dunn at an M1 service station last summer but John insists he is not responsible.

He spoke to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph from his solicitor's office in the town of Oradea.

And one of the first things he said was: "Can you ring my family and let them know I'm all right? "A lot of things have been said about me that are not true but I feel fine, I am not in prison and I am living at home. "I am just hoping this whole thing will sort itself out. It is really difficult to phone out of Romania, you have to wait hours for a line."

John asked the Evening Telegraph to ring his mother in the Blackpool area and his family in Great Harwood to reassure them.

In an exclusive interview, published in later editions of yesterday's paper, he proclaimed his innocence and claimed he was being made a scapegoat.

He said he had taken the child for a walk in the days before it disappeared from a and added: "They want to nail somebody for it and they have picked on me.

"I can only get a maximum of five years if they find me guilty but I didn't do it. I have just had a look at the prison cells over here and they frightened me to death."

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