FOREIGN Secretary William Hague had been asked to step in to help a New Forest father get back his abducted children in the weeks leading up to their deaths.

Justin Mellersh had tracked his family down to Turkey and was desperately trying to work with the authorities out there to get his eight-year-old son Yaanis and six-year-old daughter Mira back from their mother.

He and his family, who still live in Minstead, enlisted the help of New Forest East MP Julian Lewis in the hope of recovering the children before their mother, Elke, disappeared again with them.

Mr Lewis and his team offered support, assisting with contacting the British Embassy in Germany and then in Turkey, when they were moved by their mother, who had taken a job as a private English teacher.

Mr Lewis also brought the issue to the attention of William Hague, but their plight ended in tragedy last Friday when the two “lively” and “loving” youngsters were killed by their 45-year-old German mother.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Echo, the children were abducted from their family home in Germany by Elke nearly two years ago, after Justin was awarded custody by the German courts.

The Mellersh family launched a European-wide hunt for the youngsters, who had lived in Minstead before the family move abroad.

Their bodies, along with their mother’s were discovered in a farmhouse in the seaside town of Soke, on the Turkish Aegean coast.

Reports in Turkey say the family died of carbon monoxide poisoning, possibly from a heater.

The property’s windows had been taped up and a note on the front door stated “Caution: Toxic”.

Villagers in Minstead, where the children’s grandparents Nick and Jeanie Mellersh live, are rallying around the popular family, while Justin is in Turkey trying to get his children's bodies flown home.

Mr Lewis said: “We were absolutely shocked and horrified that this has happened.

“This obviously was the very outcome that people here were afraid of.

“We assisted the family when the children were missing, trying to make sure that all the authorities were doing all they could by getting in touch with the British Embassy in Germany and then in Turkey and spurring them into action because we were worried about these children.”