A SOLICITOR from Valencia who has spent eight years in jail for the alleged 'kidnap' of her daughter has finally made it home to Spain and is looking forward to an emotional reunion with the little girl, whom she has not seen since 2006.
María José Carrascosa spoke to the press as she landed in Manises airport, her father José carrying her cases, explaining that although she was released from prison in New Jersey after eight years, she was still not able to leave the country due to legal processes that were still ongoing.
And the US court had banned her daughter from leaving Spain until she was 18, meaning they were only able to talk on the phone or via Skype.
María José's American ex-husband had filed criminal proceedings against her after she took her daughter home to Valencia, denouncing her for kidnap, which led to her being sentenced to 14 years in prison.
A Spanish court had awarded her custody of the child, withdrawing the youngster's passport so her father could not take her out of the country, but a court in the USA overturned the verdict.
When María José did not hand her daughter over to the child's father, Peter Innes, within 10 days, she was arrested.
Her sister Victoria explained that she had been unable to hand the child over because of her passport being held by the Spanish court, and that María José had panicked and 'hidden' from the American justice system for three months.
By the time María José was arrested and placed in police custody at Bergen Yale prison in Harsensack, New Jersey, her family had spent over €1 million on fighting her case.
Then, they were hit with another bill by the New Jersey court for US$500,000 as bail.
Having missed seeing her daughter grow up, María José was released on conditional discharge in April 2015, but not allowed to leave the USA.
She and Innes had been married for five years, but separated in 2004, signing an agreement that stated neither party could take their daughter – then four years old – out of the country without the other's consent, and the child's US passport was held at the offices of Messrs Lesvenich & Marzano-Lesvenich solicitors.
However, the firm handed the little girl's American passport to the mother when the Spanish court agreed she could have custody of her, and María José took the five-year-old to Spain in January 2005.
She returned briefly to the USA, but was arrested in 2006 and remanded in custody.
María José claimed her ex-husband had attacked her physically and tried to poison and kill her.
Peter Innes had requested she be released from prison 'immediately', saying her being on remand 'served no purpose' and claimed his ex-wife was 'mentally ill'.
His campaign to get her out of jail took nine years to bear fruit.
María José's sister denounced at the time that the medication the family had been sending her in the States – which she had to take because her thyroid gland had been removed some time beforehand – was not being passed onto her and the prison was not giving her the proper drugs.
The Valencian solicitor finally spoke to her daughter, called Victoria like her aunt, after her release in April 2015 and the two of them 'cried like babies'.
María José said she was 'desperate' to see Victoria again and hug her, but that until the paper trail was complete, US authorities would not let her go home, and Victoria – who is still only 17 – remains unable to leave Spain.
Later today (Tuesday), María José and her daughter Victoria will meet again for the first time since the latter was five years old and, as the mother says, they will have 'years of catching up to do'.
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