IT IS hard to imagine a more heinous trade than the international baby selling racket exposed tonight on TV in the Cook Report.

It reveals how infants in Latin America are snatched from their parents - apparently stolen to order - and sold to overseas couples desperate to adopt.

But the uncovering of this corrupt trade in human lives, and an international network along which it operates, owes a great deal to the selflessness, dedication and courage of Darwen couple Pat and Stephen Hampson.

They were desperate for a child of their own.

But while seeking a solution to that need, it was their vigilance that penetrated a secret baby selling business and uncovered a trail leading from Britain to faraway Guatemala along which money and babies were exchanged.

It was at some personal risk, considerable hardship and much heartache that Pat and Stephen underwent this ordeal, when others in their situation might have ignored the wickedness.

They are to be praised and thanked.

For if their courageous efforts have prevented just one child from being stolen from its parents by the evil exploiters of desperate childless couples, then tremendous good will have been done.

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