THE prosecution service has dropped the case against a York father arrested on board an aeroplane about to leave Luton Airport.

The 34-year-old was charged with abducting his two-year-old son.

Both were aboard a plane bound for Slovenia on December 28 when UK Border Agency boarded the plane and arrested him.

The officers were acting on a request from North Yorkshire Police after the child’s mother went to police. The couple’s marriage was breaking up and she was concerned about the child’s future.

The father was brought back to York and questioned before being charged with child abduction.

He denied the charge and was due to stand trial this week before York magistrates, who had released him on bail at his first appearance before them on December 30.

Now the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that the case has been dropped “on evidential grounds”. Its code says prosecutors should not continue a case unless they have sufficient evidence for a “realistic prospect of conviction.” The man cannot be named for legal reasons.