Madonna returns to Britain while new twist may doom chances for adoption appeal

Madonna returned to Britain last night and was said to be ‘devastated and shaking’ at having to leave Mercy James, behind in Malawi.

A judge ruled last week that Madonna could not adopt Mercy as she had not met residency rules which require adoptive parents to live in Malawi for 18 to 24 months. Officials have already returned Mercy to an orphanage.

Madonna’s lawyer Alan Chinula is appealing the decision in Malawi’s Supreme Court, and believed he had a good chance of winning.  However a man claiming to be Mercy’s biological father has said he was willing to take a DNA test to prove he was Mercy’s father and wants to raise the child.

If the court in Malawi accepts security guard James Kambewa, 24, paternity claim it is likely to be the final blow to Madonna’s hopes of adopting the child. Kambewa, who lives in a remote village 100 miles from Lilongwe, said he was told Mercy had died with her mother at the birth.

Madonna was met at Luton airport in London, by ex-husband Guy Ritchie to whisk their adopted son David and son Rocco, eight, off to his Wiltshire estate.

While Ritchie has publicly supported the adoption of Mercy, he and Madonna did not appear to speak to each other as the children were picked up, which kind of speaks volumes about their current relationship.

The ex-couple were said to have argued over the issue of adopting Mercy while still married, and Ritchie’s father John said yesterday that his son would be ‘very relieved’ by the court’s decision.

Source: Daily Mail