Mum Amy Grimshaw tells Simon Ashberry how the family got away from it all after the trauma of baby Daniel's return from his kidnap ordeal last Friday.

DANIEL GRIMSHAW got up to all kinds of mischief when his family took him to Blackpool for the weekend.

He might have been mistaken for any happy toddler as he romped around the guest house where they were staying and laughed as he took to the rides at the Pleasure Beach.

It was only the fact that his photograph had been plastered over newspapers the length and breadth of the country that you realised this was no ordinary trip to the seaside.

And his mum Amy Grimshaw had to pinch herself to remember that life was only just beginning to get back to normal after her 11-week kidnap ordeal.

Within hours of facing the nation's cameramen at an emotional news conference at Eccleshill police station, the 18-year-old was heading for a well-deserved break away from it all with her beloved Daniel in her arms.

With the gale force winds which battered the resort putting Blackpool's famous sands out of bounds and closing many of its pleasure rides, it wasn't most people's idea of a perfect weekend by the coast.

But for Amy, 16-month-old Daniel and the rest of her family it couldn't have been better.

"We went on Friday afternoon and came back at Sunday teatime. We wanted to get right away from Bradford for a few days, the whole family had a great time," said Amy.

"Even while I was in the news conference being interviewed, my sister Stacey was ringing round guest houses to book us in."

Daniel's four-month-old sister Saffron, little cousin Lois as well as his grandparents Peter and Elaine Dobson, Amy's sisters Stacey, Adele, Louise and Adele's husband Craig, were also Blackpool-bound.

"We got up to all sorts. It was absolutely freezing but we still had a brilliant time. I bought Daniel some wellies but we never got a chance to go onto the beach because it was so cold," said Amy.

"A lot of the actual rides were closed anyway because it was so windy but he enjoyed going on the smaller rides like the one where you go round in little teacups.

"He's a bundle of mischief so he was mainly causing trouble and bouncing around with Lois.

"The man at the guest house let him go outside and look at the goldfish in the pond but the first thing he did was rip off the netting that was covering it."

Watching Daniel back at home in Wrose merrily playing with his toy Tubbytoast maker from his favourite TV show Teletubbies, it was hard to imagine he had been the focus of an international police hunt only a few days before.

And even when Amy managed to get away from the media hurly-burly in Bradford that followed her being reunited with Daniel, she found that she had suddenly become more than just a face in the crowd.

"The people in the guest house recognised us from the television. In fact while we were out shopping for clothes a woman came up and asked if Daniel was the little boy she had seen on the news and when I told her he was, she shouted over to everyone 'This is them!'

"I felt like a Spice Girl! It wasn't really that embarrassing. It was just nice to know that people had taken notice."

Amy's joy at being back with Daniel is tempered with the anxiety which now preys constantly on her mind and which she believes will never disappear.

"I daren't walk around with him even now. It's just the fear I've got of taking Daniel out anyway. I don't think it will ever go away," said Amy.

"I'm going to take him to a playgroup on Friday because it's not fair on Daniel being inside the whole time. We'll see how it goes and I'll see if I can start taking him somewhere where he's indoors."

The playgroup Daniel will go to is only a few hundreds yards away in King's Road, but Amy is taking no chances - when Daniel was snatched on November 9 it was in Hillary Road, only a stone's throw from her home in Thornacre Road.

"I'll be getting at taxi. I'm not walking up there," she said.

"We're very close. At night he sleeps with me and stretches out his feet and notices if I'm not there. He always has to be touching me."

The Grimshaws postponed Christmas at the end of last year, putting aside all their presents for each other until the day when Daniel was back.

And true to their promise, they held their own belated party when they got back from Blackpool.

"We didn't actually get the Christmas tree out but we did have party poppers and opened all our presents," said Amy.

"Daniel got loads of things, all the Toy Story stuff and lots of other things, more than I can remember really but of course he wasn't that bothered. He was more interested in trying to pull the net curtains down.

"He is quite bewildered at everything that's gone on. He recognised us all straight away and when he saw me he just shouted 'Mum!' and held his hands out.

"Lois is about the same age as him and was really happy to see him again. When it happened and it was on the news, she was going up to the telly kissing his picture."

There has been a stream of wellwishers and messages of congratulations from friends since the good news emerged that Daniel had been found.

And Amy is planning a proper thank you event in the next couple of weeks.

"It's still a bit chaotic at the moment but we're going to invite all his friends to one of those Wacky Warehouse places for a homecoming party," she said.

For the man who led the hunt for Daniel and his kidnappers, Chief Superintendent Stuart Hyde, the reunification between mother and child and the obvious love between them has been an absolute tonic.

He said: "There was a fear, both for the police and Amy, that the bond between her and Daniel would not be as strong.

"But having seen them together for five minutes it was obvious to everyone that it would not be a problem.

"We are satisfied that Daniel was reasonably well looked after, but it is possible we may never know what happened to him during those 12 weeks.

"Over time, that is something which may prey on Amy's mind, but I hope it doesn't. She must look forward to the future now rather than dwell on the past.

"In terms of the sensitive nature of the case and lack of information we received this was one of the most difficult investigations of my career.

"I made it quite clear to Amy from the beginning that I would be as open as possible and to be careful not to get up false hopes. Given similar circumstances I would do things the same way again.

"My officers have worked exceptionally hard over the last two months to bring this case to a successful conclusion.

"Prosecuting the people who were holding Daniel was irrelevant - getting him back to his mother is what counted."

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