AID worker John Boast, who spent months in a Romanian prison amid child smuggling allegations, is planning a new mercy drive to war-torn Kosovo.

Mr Boast, 49, wants to help the refugees who are flooding across the Albanian and Macedonian borders after threats and murders by Serbian soldiers.

The former Great Harwood businessman is planning to enter Kosovo to help the ethnic Albanians who have not yet managed to escape the Serb forces.

He said: "I've been to Yugoslavia several times before and I've been captured before but I got out of it all right.

"Because I know the Serbs and have a certain amount of experience, it does ease the passage a little bit. An Englishman with a smile can get anywhere."

Mr Boast has four British children and also adopted two Romanian orphans with his Romanian wife.

He began taking supplies into Romania to help children affected by appalling poverty and was horrified by the conditions he saw in the country's orphanages around the town of Oradea. He spent several months in prison after being accused of smuggling children out of the country in 1996. He was found guilty of knowing that a child had been taken out of Romania and given a 20 month suspended sentence.

He later admitted to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that he had smuggled children out of the country for humanitarian reasons and said: "I only did what any man with compassion would do."

But he was not put off by his experiences and says he will do what he can to help in Kosovo.

He said: "It's not a case of being scared. When you watch the television and see all those people sitting there on the borders, where does a bit of personal fear come into it?

"I'm just going out there to do what I can. I've got nothing else to do."

Mr Boast, who is currently staying with his mother in Blackburn, will first visit his wife in Romania and deliver building supplies for a hospital for disabled children before heading for Kosovo on Monday with his van and trailer, painted with the slogan "Don't worry, be happy".

He has asked local people to give food, blankets and warm clothing for the Kosovars. Anyone who can help can contact him on 01254 201359.

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