An emotional Tara Brown explains her perspective on 60 Minutes after being released from a Beirut jail following a botched child recovery story in April. Credit:Channel Nine The first case has been complicated by the fact that Turkey is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The convention requires member nations to recognise each other's court rulings on child custody. The father has lodged action in the Australian courts alleging the mother had breached Turkish court rulings. Efforts to contact the mother on Monday were unsuccessful but Fairfax Media understands she denies any impropriety.

This image shown by the Nine Network shows men allegedly attempting to abduct Sally Faulkner's children from a Beirut street. The woman is understood to have become involved with 60 Minutes when she moved to leave Turkey with the child. She then travelled to Australia. Fairfax Media understands reporter Liz Hayes and a crew from 60 Minutes were documenting the case as it unfolded in Turkey and in Greece. The father immediately returned to Australia and launched court action alleging his child had been kidnapped and should be returned to Turkey. Contacted in Australia on Monday, the father confirmed the case was ongoing and that he believed his son had been abducted.

He said he did not have any knowledge of 60 Minutes' involvement. However, he said he was very surprised that his wife had everything planned and seemed to have plenty of money to finance the child's removal to Australia and a boat with which to escape to Greece. He said the child's nanny had tipped him off that his wife was planning to go to Australia. "They were packing up the house and sending everything to Australia, the pictures and things," he said. He said he knew when they went on holiday that they were going to try to leave.

He said he travelled down to Bodrum, the coastal region, and reported the matter to the police. But the police said they couldn't do anything, he said. "They [my wife] had a boat. They got stopped a couple of times by the navy. I was ringing her and then her phone was shut down like it was in another country," he said. The father said he immediately got on a boat to travel to the nearby Greek Island of Kos and went to the local police. "They told me: 'Yes they were here.' "

The child had an emergency travel document and the child had blond hair to make him look like a typical Western child. "I said I'm going to follow them. But the police said wait and they typed their names into the computer and found out they had just left on a flight out of Athens to Australia four hours before." The father said he came to Australia within three days and then, within five days, they had a hearing in the Family Court. "The judge seemed to be ready for the case and was very angry but after [seeing] my [good] behaviour and my lawyer's behaviour ... I was allowed contact," he said. The father said the case was continuing but, in the meantime, he had access to see the children four days a week.

He said he had been falsely represented as being a violent person. He said the case had now dragged on for more than a year. "We don't understand it. Normally these cases involving the Hague Convention get done within four to five weeks," he said. Despite spending time documenting the mother's case, the father says he has never been contacted to give his side of the events. A Nine spokeswoman said it could not comment because the matter is before the court.

"The story is not going to air because of the issues with the Family Court," she said.