A couple today defeated an attempt by US authorities to extradite them from Ireland for allegedly kidnapping their grandson.
Tim and Ethel Blake, from Cork, were locked in an international "tug-of-love" battle with their daughter, Serena Benwell, when they took her son, Dylan, then nine, from his home in Winthrop Harbour, north of Chicago, in July 2004.
But the Irish High Court ruled the pair, both aged 60, should not be sent to the US to stand trial.
Dylan (12) had previously lived with his grandparents in Ireland but was taken by his mother when she moved to the United States to marry a US naval officer.
The Blakes, from Lower Midleton Street in Cobh, Co Cork, faced a maximum 30-year prison sentence for the alleged offence if convicted in Illinois, where they are wanted to stand trial for aggravated kidnapping.
The child returned to live in the United States with his mother, stepfather, three brothers and sister in November 2004 after his mother invoked the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.
During the extradition hearing at Dublin's High Court earlier this month, Mrs Benwell said in an affidavit her father claimed to be dying while on a visit to her in July 2004.
He asked if both he and his wife could spend some time with Dylan alone at the hotel they were staying at before they returned home. The daughter agreed on the condition they gave her their passports.
The passports later turned out to be duplicates, and when she returned to the hotel she found her parents had taken the boy with them and boarded a flight from Chicago to London and on to Ireland.
Pensioner Mr Blake provided medical reports to the court showing he had cancer of the blood, heart problems and diabetes.
His doctor feared he would not be emotionally able to survive the US penal system, stating it would be "extremely unwise" to extradite him.