More scandal on the net. HOWARD DAVIS looks at the dismal farce of buying babies over the World Wide Web

IT IS a tale of desperation.

The first few months of Kimberly and Belinda Wecker's life are little short of appalling. Sold by their mother, Tranda Wecker, for £4,000 to one couple, the Allens, before suddenly being taken back by their mother and sold to a British couple, the Kilshaws, for an alleged £24,000. The second sale required a 2,000 miles drive from California to Arkansas where the adoption laws are more lenient - a drive, which affected both babies' health.

Tony Blair said of the case: "I think everyone feels it is absolutely deplorable that children are traded in this way. Adoption should always be about the interests of the child first." But this is a touch ironic considering that Mr Blair himself delayed the ratification of the Hague convention on inter-country adoption (which would have forestalled the Kilshaws' actions) in order to give priority to other facets of adoption reform.

It would be rather ungraceful of me to criticise Mr Blair for this - not everything can take priority all of the time, as he is constantly reminding us. What this does do, though, is highlight the break-neck speed at which the Internet is revolutionising the world, especially in areas of concern like this.

The British couple, who bought the American baby twins through an Internet site run by a Californian child broker, responded to Mr Blair by saying his criticism was unacceptable as they had not broken any laws.

This is true, but their desperate and underhand actions are surprising when you consider that Mrs Kilshaw already has four children from two earlier marriages.

It is reported that the Kilshaws want to make a Hollywood film of their story. I'm sure the twins would not see their plight in such a romantic light.

But being in the spotlight seems to be taking its toll already. After one paper made allegations that the Kilshaws house was dirty and unkempt, Mrs Kilshaw stormed out of an interview on the ITV lunchtime news.

She was asked: "Where do you go from here?" Inexplicably she replied: "I go home and clean my house, clean my carpets, get a duster and give it a good Hoover and go through the place." The presenter had not mentioned the slurs on her house-keeping.

Mrs Kilshaw then proceeded to pull out her earpiece and tell the presenter, "I'm not doing anymore for you," before storming off, leaving a bemused Mr Kilshaw to finish the interview.

On top of this, it has emerged that a camera crew filmed the Kilshaws when paranormal investigators visited their house in response to claims by the couple that there were apparitions in the house.

"It's evil, I don't know what it is," Mrs Kilshaw told the film crew. Mr Kilshaw had not seen the '"ghost'", but had heard it moving. Mrs Kilshaw's son described an old man in a dairy-coat he called the "milky man".

If it were not for the fate of the twins this whole farce would seem laughable.

Last night North Wales Police and social services officials took the twins into care after swooping on the Beaufort Park Hotel, close to the market town of Mold, where the Kilshaws were staying. Det Insp Nick Crabtree said a protection order, granted under the Children's Act 1989, was served on the Kilshaws.

The FBI are also investigating the situation, but are dealing with minor problems with the natural mother's actions, not the Kilshaws. Although many countries still have loose adoption laws that allow children to be advertised on Internet sites,the FBI is not interested in this side of the story.

I'll leave the final word to one pundit on the BBC News chat room who commented: 'What on earth is the fuss about? Everyone knows that in our Brave New World society is merely an economy and children are just consumer fodder. So long as they are weighed in metric and stamped with a sell-by date there's no worry. You'd think they were human beings, for heaven's sake!'