Runaway mother Rebecca Minnock, who disappeared with her son during a custody battle with her former partner, has been summoned to court and could be jailed.

The mother-of-one spent 17 days on the run with her son Ethan, three, after judges ruled he should live with his father, Roger Williams.

Mr Williams, 35, decided to launch proceedings against Miss Minnock, who fled despite two court orders demanding she hand over her son.

Runaway mother Rebecca Minnock, who disappeared with her son during a custody battle with her former partner, has been summoned to court and could be jailed

Miss Minnock, 35, is now set to attend two family court hearings later this week.

Earlier this month, judge Stephen Wildwood QC branded Miss Minnock 'utterly irresponsible', saying that if everyone behaved like her there would be 'anarchy'.

A district judge previously found that Miss Minnock disobeyed two court orders by going on the run with Ethan.

Her mother, Louise, 52, and her partner, Andrew Butt, 56, were jailed for withholding information about the little boy's disappearance.

Butt received a 28-day prison sentence for lying to police and withholding 'crucial' information which would have led police to find the pair. Mrs Minnock was jailed for 10 days.

The mother-of-one spent 17 days on the run with her son Ethan, three, after judges ruled he should live with his father

Roger Williams ecided to launch proceedings against his former partner Miss Minnock

He admitted he had driven them to Cheltenham on the morning of May 27 - the day she was due to hand Ethan to his father - but refused to say where he had dropped them off.

Judge Wildblood told Butt that he 'belonged' in prison for his behaviour and said his sentence was 'richly deserved'.

'Andrew Butt you have disgraced yourself publicly. You lied to the police. You lied twice in your evidence,' the judge told him.

'You may face prosecution for perjury which, as I have explained, is a serious criminal offence.

'You admit having told serious lies in evidence and I found to the criminal standard of proof that you told further lies under oath.

'You belonged in jail for your behaviour and I have no doubt at all that the sentence that I imposed was richly deserved.'

He told him that the purpose of the sentence was not to put pressure on Miss Minnock to come forward with Ethan but to mark the seriousness of his own contempt of court.

Miss Minnock handed herself in to police in Oxford just hours after he was jailed.

Mr Williams, from Burnham on Sea, Somerset, described the last few weeks and months as a 'time of immense anxiety and distress' and said he was grateful to everyone who helped bring his son home.