A warrant was issued for the arrest of a child welfare campaigner last night after he failed to appear in court to be sentenced for his part in a conspiracy to abduct a child.

Stuart Carnie, 37, was due to appear before Newcastle Crown Court along with the parents and grandmother of a young girl, who was spirited away into hiding because of fears the child would be abused if she was placed in social services care.

Carnie, an anti-paedophile campaigner and organiser of the Freedom for Children charity, confessed to conspiracy to abduct the nine-year-old, along with the girl's grandmother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, just days into a trial at Newcastle Crown Court, on June 20.

The court then heard how Carnie, of North Andersen Drive, Aberdeen, helped the family hide their daughter first in Ireland and then in Scotland, in February 1999, after they feared she would be placed in the care of Sunderland Social Services.

The girl's autistic brother, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, had earlier been put into care after the local authority alleged the mother suffered fictitious illness syndrome, a condition formerly known as Munchausen's syndrome by proxy.

The boy suffered unexplained bruising to his body while in care, although no blame has been put on the authority.

Sunderland social services had written to the parents requesting a meeting to discuss the girl's care, which sparked her abduction because the family feared she would suffer similar abuse if she were taken by the authority.

The girl's parents, from Sunderland, were jailed after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting child abduction, on the second day of a trial which had been scheduled to last up to seven weeks.

The child's grandmother was also sent to prison for her part in the abduction.

All had initially pleaded their innocence.

Judge Guy Whitburn QC described the case as "highly unusual" but said it was by no means exceptional and imprisonment was the only option.

He said all three were guilty of showing "complete contempt for the proper processes of the law".

Sentencing the grandmother to nine months in prison, he said: ''You took the principal part, you must receive the principal punishment."

An identical punishment was given to the child's mother. The judge said: "You were equally to blame."

The court heard earlier that the child's father served in the armed forces and had not been part of much of the plotting to abduct the child.

He was sentenced to six months in prison.

At an earlier hearing, Pauline Thomson, 38, of Stirling was cleared of taking part in the abduction by arranging a safe house. She had denied a charge of conspiracy to abduct.

Charges against the girl's aunt and grandfather will remain on file.

Another woman from the Midlands will face trial later this year for her alleged participation in the abduction