A MOTHER today told how she was preparing to spend Christmas without her two daughters after they were snatched by their father and taken to the Middle East.

And Foreign Secretary Jack Straw revealed how he has spoken about the issue with his opposite number in Jordan during his recent visit to gain support for the allied assault on Afghanistan.

Distraught mother Josephine Bromley also revealed that she has not spoken to her daughters for nearly three months.

Josephine's two daughters, Salam, 11, and Noor, seven, have been made wards of court by a Blackburn judge after their father, Jehad Al-Momani, of Station Road, Great Harwood took them to his native Jordan.

The girls are believed to have been coaxed on to an aeroplane by their father who told them he was taking them to Alton Towers.

He had arranged to take the girls on a series of day trips as part of an access agreement drawn up with his ex-wife in the courts last year.

Despite efforts by Darwen CID, the Foreign Office and Jordanian-born Coun Karimeh Foster, Josephine says she sees still cannot see an end to her ordeal.

Josephine, who lives in Lower Darwen with partner Paul Tomlinson and eldest daughter Emma, 14, said: "I have already missed Noor's birthday and I have resigned myself to not having them for Christmas.

"It is all very complicated. In Jordan, it is normal for the girls to follow their father so I have no legal right to get them back.

"And they do not accept our laws over there. Here, the father was only allowed access to them."

"It is all very stressful for us.

"I haven't spoken to them since September. I keep trying. I don't know when we will speak to them again. I hope it is soon, I just want to know they are ok."

Police even resorted to sending text messages to the girls' mobile phones to see if they would respond.

Jordanian officials have told Josephine to fight for her daughters through their courts.

Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw today confirmed he had spoken about the case to his opposite number in Jordan when he went out on a whistle-stop tour of the region to gain support for the allied assault on Afghanistan.

But he was unable to bring up the issue with the King of Jordan when he met him as part of the monarch's state visit to Britain this week.

Mr Straw said: "I will continue to contact the Jordanian Government and do all I can to help the family."