“PEOPLE think she is home – they are really shocked it is not over.”

Barbara Maas wishes the story of her granddaughter A’ishah was finished.

But the toddler is still stranded in a legal battle in Egypt 10 months after she was reunited with her mother.

Barbara, from Throop in Bournemouth, has been campaigning to help her daughter Leila get A’ishah back.

A’ishah, a British national who was raised in Greater Manchester, disappeared in Egypt last May on an access visit to see her father in the resort of Hurghada.

Leila finally found A’ishah and won custody of her in January this year – with the help of an Egyptian visit by her MP Ivan Lewis.

But mum and daughter are now mired in an apparently endless legal battle after the ex-husband secured a block against A’isha leaving the country.

“There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight,” said Barbara. “People say to ‘You must be delighted’, but A’ishah is still out there.

“It’s bittersweet – it’s lovely she is with her mother but on the other hand it’s just trying to find out what to do next.”

She said she is “not sure if anyone” is listening in the British government.

The Daily Echo spoke to Leila by telephone in Egypt and she said her ex-husband had now launched eight different legal cases in several different courts.

She said the cases include an appeal against the divorce, a bid for custody by A’sihah’s Egyptian grandmother, and a case trying to force her to go back with her ex-husband.

“This has now been my life for almost two years,” said Leila.

“He blocked A’ishah from leaving, I appealed and won.

“He went back to the courts and got another block, and I appealed and won.

“He went back and did it again.

“It will go on forever.”

She said she has been working part time and borrowing money but has ran now run up debts of £12,000 thanks to the legal fees and will have to stay at a friends because she can not longer afford her apartment.

“A’ishah is a British national, and it’s my right to take her back home” said the distraught mum.