Family beg runaway daughter to come back home

Yesterday she was briefly herded out of the hotel to go on a short shopping trip for souvenirs with her family, but she did not seem to be enjoying the experience.

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The shy teenager insists she wants to stay and marry Mohamed El Sayed, the 29-year-old cafe owner she met after travelling to a Red Sea resort a fortnight ago without telling her family.

He was arrested when the teenager was found in Hurghada last Tuesday and is now in jail accused of abducting her.

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Meanwhile Amy's parents, who rushed out to be reunited with their daughter, have kept her holed up in a small hotel in the centre of the town as they desperately try to talk her out of the marriage.

Another guest said that her father James, 42, an electrician, mother Janet, 33, and two friends take turns in trying to persuade her to give up her romantic dreams.

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"Unfortunately for them, Amy doesn't seem to respond to it at all," the guest said.

"She still appears to be madly in love with him and wants to stay and marry him. She seems very unhappy. She spends most of her time alone in her room pining for Mohamed."

Egyptian police are keeping a close guard on the hotel and the management has banned new Britons from checking in.

Her bizarre love story began when her parents left her alone at home in the hamlet of Beaumont, Carlisle, over Easter so she could revise for her AS-levels.

She instead booked a flight to Egypt to meet married boathand Tamer Hossny, whom she had fallen in love with during a family holiday last year and kept in contact with by email.

But after being jilted by him hours after she arrived, she quickly got engaged to El Sayed, who she met in the Internet cafe he runs in a rundown area of the resort.

They stayed with his parents in a village outside Cairo, but their wedding plans were halted when she needed hospital treatment for appendicitis.

When El Sayed learned that Amy's disappearance had led to an international manhunt, he decided to return to Hurghada to try to sort things out.

But after they arrived, she was taken into the care of British officials and he was thrown into jail on suspicion of kidnap.

Amy remains besotted and appears desperate to be reunited with him. She hardly spoke to her parents when they arrived last Thursday.

It remains unclear whether she will return to Britain with them. Egyptian police say she is free to go, but British police say that since she left home of her own accord and no crime has been committed, she cannot be compelled to go home.

El Sayed is being held on suspicion of abduction and adultery. Under Egyptian law it is illegal to have an intimate relationship with a woman unless you are married to her.

If convicted, he faces a jail sentence which could be as little as 24 hours or as much as three years. But he has told investigators: "I didn't kidnap Amy or do anything to harm her. I'm in love with her."