A holidaymaker who looked after two young girls while their parents went out drinking in Majorca has said they ‘don’t deserve children’.
The sisters, four and 11, were repeatedly left on their own at the island’s Club Palma Bay resort while their mother and step-father got ‘paralytic’.
The couple were arrested by Spanish police on Thursday and the children left with social services until their mother was released yesterday. Her partner was not allowed to fly home to Scotland with them.
Amanda Wignall, 37, was staying at the same resort with her husband and four-year-old son when she spotted the two girls dancing on their own and became extremely concerned.
Two Scottish girls aged 4 and 11 were left on their own at the Club Palma Bay resort in Majorca (pictured) while their mother and step-father ‘went out and got drunk’
The mother-of-two from Blackpool claims the youngsters were left with four different families over the course of two days and had to stay in a room with the hotel’s children entertainer when the couple were arrested.
She told MailOnline she ‘hasn’t stopped thinking about their little faces’ since she flew home on Thursday.
Mrs Wignall said: ‘When I left the hotel to go to the airport I couldn’t stop crying.
‘I could cry now just thinking about how I had to walk away from those children knowing anyone could have picked them up.
‘It could’ve been another Maddie McCann story, they didn’t know how much danger they were in.
‘It’s absolutely disgusting, they don’t deserve to have children, let alone take them abroad.’
![Amanda Wignall (pictured), 37, was staying at the same resort with her husband and four-year-old son when she spotted the two girls dancing on their own and became extremely concerned](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/21/10/4B6293D800000578-5641271-image-a-4_1524302028950.jpg)
Amanda Wignall (pictured), 37, was staying at the same resort with her husband and four-year-old son when she spotted the two girls dancing on their own and became extremely concerned
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her hotel room in the Algarve in Portugal in May 2007 and has never been seen since.
A child protection meeting is due to take place where the girls live in Scotland on Monday, where the 11-year-old girl’s father is reportedly trying to get custody of her.
Mrs Wignall claims she has been in contact with the girl’s father to confirm they got home safely.
She says she first spotted the youngsters at the hotel’s children disco on Tuesday evening after flying out with her family on Sunday.
She claims the 11-year-old told her ‘in no uncertain terms’ it wasn’t the first time her mother and step-father, believed to be in their late 40s or early 50s, had abandoned them on holiday.
She said: ‘The eldest told me they’d been on holiday before and the step-dad and her mum had gone out drinking and left them on their own.
‘All that little girl did the whole holiday was look after her little sister. Neither of them would’ve eaten anything if it wasn’t for her.’
Mrs Wignall bumped into a friend of hers called Kate on the first day of the holiday and after spending time with her, realised she had been looking after the girls as well.
The women claim they would look after the girls whenever they saw them around the hotel but they were often left with other families while their parents were out on the strip or at the bar.
![Mrs Wignall's friend Kate Lees took to Facebook to share the 'shocking' story](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/21/10/4B6293EF00000578-5641271-image-a-5_1524302041851.jpg)
Mrs Wignall’s friend Kate Lees took to Facebook to share the ‘shocking’ story
She told MailOnline: ‘The first time I saw them I felt very uncomfortable.
‘One night we saw them on their own and when we eventually found the mum she was absolutely paralytic.
‘She was so drunk she couldn’t even lift her head up to speak to us, let alone string a sentence together.
‘I don’t know where the step-dad was. The eldest kept saying she had to ring her dad in Scotland, we didn’t know what was going on.’
On the final night of her stay Mrs Wignall saw the girls again and asked who would be looking after them when her and her friend had gone.
She claims they told her a young couple from Wigan had agreed to take care of them while their parents went out.
But when she came to check out in the early hours of Thursday reception staff told her the girls had been taken off the couple because they were also too drunk and their parents had been arrested.
She said: ‘When I left on Thursday I told the receptionist I had serious concerns about two young children staying in the hotel.
![Mrs Wignall said the children 'could have ended up like Maddie McCann (pictured), who disappeared from her family's hotel room in Portugal in 2007](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/21/10/4B31384D00000578-5641271-image-a-19_1524303432075.jpg)
Mrs Wignall said the children ‘could have ended up like Maddie McCann (pictured), who disappeared from her family’s hotel room in Portugal in 2007
‘They said the father had been arrested and the hotel staff were now officially responsible for them, because the couple the parents had left them with were too drunk to look after them.
‘The mum and step-dad had been taken away by the police and the children’s entertainer had to stay in a room with there was no one else.’
Officials in Majorca said the police had been called after the mother allegedly assaulted one of the other women who had been looking after her daughters.
Mrs Wignall says this was the drunk British woman, but this has not been confirmed.
A spokesman for the National Police in Majorca said: ‘National Police officers have arrested a British couple who were on holiday as the suspected authors of a crime of child abandonment.
‘In the early hours of Thursday morning and at a hotel in Playa de Palma, hotel security staff were alerted to the abandonment of two children by their parents.
‘The family of four had arrived two days earlier. Following their arrival, the parents were usually drunk and would regularly leave the hotel and leave their children there.
![The couple were arrested by Spanish police on Thursday and the children left with social services until their mother was released yesterday. Her partner was not allowed to fly home to Scotland with them. Pictured: Palma Bay Club resort](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/21/10/4B629BDC00000578-5641271-image-a-7_1524302071011.jpg)
The couple were arrested by Spanish police on Thursday and the children left with social services until their mother was released yesterday. Her partner was not allowed to fly home to Scotland with them. Pictured: Palma Bay Club resort
‘After security staff warned them about their illegal behaviour, they convinced another British couple who they didn’t know, to look after their children while they went drinking in different bars in the resort.
‘They would return totally drunk. They returned in the same state in the early hours of Thursday morning.
‘For no reason the mother assaulted the woman who had been looking after her children and hotel security, who subsequently alerted police, had to intervene.
‘Officers arrested the couple after reaching the hotel. They also discovered the tourist who had agreed to look after the youngsters was under the effects of alcohol.’
Mrs Wignall says she ‘has thought of nothing else’ since she left Spain.
She said: ‘People keep asking me how my holiday was but I can’t even talk about it.
‘Those people had gone on holiday to get drunk and ignore their children.
‘I was going out of my mind with worry, I barely thought about anything else.
‘I was waiting to pick up my children from school yesterday and I just burst into tears.
‘The mum was allowed to fly home with them, but the step-dad wasn’t, that really distressed the kids.
‘The whole thing is absolutely shocking. When you have children they are your responsibility and your responsibility alone.’
Taking to Facebook after she arrived back in the UK, Mrs Wignall’s friend Kate Lees wrote: ‘I’ve had the best time away just me and my youngest but I’m leaving Majorca today with a heavy heart.
‘We’ve spent the week with two little girls aged 4 and 11… mainly because their parents were always drunk.
![The British tourists had been staying at the popular resort of Playa de Palma outside the capital of Majorca](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/04/21/10/186E725E00000514-5641271-The_British_tourists_had_been_staying_at_the_popular_resort_of_P-a-6_1524302055569.jpg)
The British tourists had been staying at the popular resort of Playa de Palma outside the capital of Majorca
‘Last night it came to a head and both parents were arrested after the dad was paralytic drunk and the mom had left the girls to look after themselves after she left the resort to go and party on the strip.
‘I took care of them girls for 3 hours looking for her mom and we couldn’t find her anywhere.
‘They wanted to stay in my room, even a strangers room they’d only known 2 days, so they could be looked after but I told them I wasn’t allowed to do that and hotel reception had to take care of them.
‘The girl was calling her dad in Scotland for help. This morning I had to watch them two beautiful girls get taken away by Spanish social services and taken to a Spanish children’s care centre as mom and dad have been arrested and in Palma cells.
‘Never have I witnessed such awful disgusting parenting and fear in two small faces.
‘Parents if you want a holiday abroad and get off your face leave your kids at home.’