Talking to David Lowe of The Sun last Thursday, and Charmaine Craus of l-orizzont yesterday, desperate mum Jacky Vassallo described how her Libyan husband made off with their four daughters, and she still hasn’t got them all back.

Alone in the darkness, Jacky grabbed a handful of sleeping pills, and swallowed them with the contents of a bottle of vodka.

The mum-of-four winced at the bitter cocktail, but was desperate to end the pain of life without her two eldest daughters.

The previous year, beautiful Najla, 7, and Nadia, 6, had emigrated to Libya with their father who had started to follow his warped version of Islam.

Jacky was supposed to follow with the other girls soon after, but her husband slyly disappeared without a trace, and she was left in limbo.

Jacky was just 15 when she was introduced to her future husband, Khairi Mahamed Ali Hanka, in Cardiff at a party. He’d come to the UK to study mechanical engineering, but as a lively 21-year-old he seemed more interested in partying.

Khairi eventually failed college and after six years dating Jacky, asked her to marry him.

Jacky says: “At the start of our relationship Khairi was just a normal, fun person.

“But soon, although we lived in Wales, Khairi’s rules turned our home into a mini Libya and I was forced to live the way many women do over there.”

Despite Jacky’s initial reservations about the move to the Libyan capital Tripoli, she eventually agreed but then everything just went from bad to worse.