BUSILY grafting away on a Chorley town centre car park, John Boast looks like any other builder. But he's no ordinary man.

Just to put that in some kind of perspective, he plans to stand as mayor in Romania where he now lives - and where he narrowly escaped a lengthy jail sentence for illegally smuggling children out of the country!

John, aged 49, returned to Lancashire for a few months with his Romanian wife Crina, 33, staying with his brother in Blackburn.

He picked up what work he could to provide Crina with some "housekeeping" and to help finance a project to bring a team of young Romanian gymnastics to Britain in April.

John hit the national headlines a few years ago when he received a 20-month suspended jail sentence in Romania for child smuggling.

He makes no secret of the fact that he drove plenty of youngsters across the borders for adoption in the UK, but purely on humanitarian grounds and often at expense to himself.

"My situation was given a lot of press and TV coverage really to discredit me. But the longer it went on the more it turned round in my favour," said John.

His remarkable Romanian experiences began in 1990 when he joined a humanitarian trip to Transylvania.

But he returned disillusioned. The donations were not getting to the people who needed them and he decided to take much more direct, drastic action.

The first youngster he tried to help was called Yolanda

He recalled: "At the time she was was six, but you would have said she was two. I finished up trying to get her over here for some proper treatment, but it failed.

"She's now in a god awful state. I don't see her as often as I should because I find it very hard."

John sadly revealed that five youngsters died in his arms. And one orphanage had 143 children's graves in its grounds.

The orphanages and hospitals were keen to release children to him - with the consent of their parents who were happy their children were going for adoption.

"I always made sure I had the natural parents' consent," said John.

But when one Romanian family couldn't translate a letter they received regarding the adoption of their child, they sought help - and innocently asked a policeman!

The game was up. The letter was traced back to John and he was in serious trouble.

He went before the courts for attempting to illegally take the children out and was convicted of 'complicity in illegal border crossings'.

He was given a suspended sentence, but spent six months in custody before it was handed out.

John is also collecting toys to take back to Romania. If anyone can help with donations, or in any other way, they can contact him in 01254 695299.

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