An 11-year-old girl is in the care of Spanish authorities after she was discovered wandering alone around the Costa Dorada resort of Salou. She was left on her own by her mother who was later discovered drinking in a hotel bar. A British couple found the youngster, who had been left on her own for two hours, and managed to track down her mother, 42-year-old Alicia Jenkins.

However, when Jenkins was approached by the couple she allegedly greeted them with a string of obscenities. She was then arrested and charged with child abandonment, to which she pleaded guilty. A magistrate in Tarragona handed Jenkins a six-month suspended sentence.

Jenkins, of Buttercup Drive in Rochdale, was released and is currently waiting to be reunited with her daughter at the California Garden hotel. The Spanish authorities have not said when the pair will be allowed to see each other. Jenkins was on a two-week holiday with her daughter when the incident occurred.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Jenkins booked the holiday with her daughter and left her other five children in the UK with Shafaq Ahmed, her estranged husband. He told the paper that Jenkins’ behaviour was out of character. He added that his estranged wife rarely drank because alcohol didn’t agree with her and that this would explain her alleged outburst.

Mr Ahmed said he would be supporting his wife and described her as an excellent mother. He added that he had talked to her on the telephone and that she was devastated by what had happened.