President agrees baby case review

The Romanian president Ion Iliescu was last night reviewing the case of the British couple sentenced to 28 months jail for smuggling a baby. Adrian and Bernadette Mooney of Wokingham, Berkshire, were convicted of paying a middleman pounds 4,000 for five-month-old Monica after they were arrested on the Hungarian border with the child hidden in a car.

The review follows an appeal by the former Conservative Euro-MP Lord Bethell. It is unlikely that a pardon can be considered until the couple's appeal, which may not be heard for up to two months.