What is C5's The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World documentary about and who are mothers: Tranda, Vickie & Judith?

SHOCKWAVES were sent around the world in 2001 when The Sun exclusively revealed details of how twin girls were sold by their American mother – before being sold again to another couple in the UK.

Read on to find out more about the new documentary that looks back at what happened, along with details of the people who feature in it.

The Sun broke the news in 2001 with the headline The Baby Traders

What is The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World About?

The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World tells the story of the twin girls who were at the centre of a controversy, after being sold twice to two different sets of parents who wanted to adopt them.

Kiara and Keyara Wecker were just six months old when they were handed over for £8,200 to Judith and Alan Kilshaw back in 2001.

Judith Kilshaw holding the six-month-old twins in 2001Credit: Reuters

But it was revealed that their birth mother Tranda Wecker had previously sold them to another set of parents back in the US.

The twins were first bought for £4,000 by Californians Richard and Vickie Allen, who began to raise them as their own.

But two months later they were snatched back by their mum and sold for twice as much to Brits Alan and Judith.

The two families both then claimed the tots were theirs and were at war over the girls’ future.

The story that shocked the world

The Sun exclusively revealed the girls were put up for adoption by their natural mother Tranda Wecker, 28, a twice-divorced hotel receptionist from St Louis, Missouri.

They were advertised on the internet by a broker called Tina Johnson.
The Allens paid her £4,000 for the tots, originally named Kiara and Keyara.
The couple took them to their San Bernardino home and were in the process of finalizing legal adoption paperwork.
But then Tranda turned up – and told plumber Richard and Vickie she needed two days with the kids to say a final farewell.
In fact, the mum and Johnson handed them to the Kilshaws at a California hotel.
The British couple, who hired Johnson as they believed they would not be allowed to adopt here, were told the babies had been cared for by the Allens.
But they pushed this to the back of their minds. And they set off with the twins on a grueling 1,500-mile car journey to Arkansas – where adoption is relatively easy – tracked by the Allens.
Mr Kilshaw said: “We’re sympathetic to them. But we wanted the twins and the mother insisted she wanted them to go with us.”
But Vickie Allen said: “How can those Brits sleep? They took our babies away from us.”
The story was brought to The Sun by the Kilshaws, who said they wanted to warn other would-be parents about the pitfalls of online adoptions.

Who is Tranda from The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World?

Tranda Wecker is the mother of the twin girls who were given up for adoption and sold to two different couples.

Tranda Wecker is the mother of twin girls involved in a trans-Atlantic adoption struggle after they were adopted by a British couple via the internetCredit: Reuters

It sparked a chain of events in which the girls were chased across the US and even kidnapped as both sets of adoptive parents claimed they were legally theirs.

At the time, she was a hotel receptionist from St Louis, Missouri.

She later tried to force her way back into the twins’ lives by gate-crashing their graduation ceremony.

It is reported that the girls were allowed to meet their mother if they wished – but they chose not to.

Who is Vickie from The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World?

Vickie Allen, along with her husband Richard, paid Tranda Wecker £4,000 for the adoption of her twin daughters Kiara and Keyara.

The couple lived in California, and began to raise the tots as their own.

But Wecker had told British couple Judith and Alan Kilshaw that they were just looking after them.

The two couples appeared on TV disputing the adoption of the twins

The two families both then claimed the tots were theirs and were at war over the girls’ future.

The girls were eventually returned to the States where they found a new foster family in Missouri.

Who is Judith from The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World?

Judith Kilshaw, along with her husband Alan, paid Tranda Wecker £8,200 so they could adopt her twin daughters Kiara and Keyara.

The babies – named Belinda and Kimberley by the Kilshaws – were brought into Britain on holiday visas and their new parents were made wards of the court by their council in North Wales.

But they were unaware that Wecker had already sold her daughters to a California couple – and were later forced to hand them back.

Judith Kilshaw arriving at the High Court to hear the verdict on custody of the twins

At the height of the court battle for the twins, Judith was dubbed the most hated woman in Britain.

The mother-of-four, who had two sons with Alan and two older daughters, had looked into adoption when they found they were unable to have any more children.

But after a shake-up in “baby trading” rules under Tony Blair, the girls – named Belinda and Kimberley by the Kilshaws – were returned to the US and placed in foster care.

Judith and Alan split in 2006 but remained friends, with Alan even walking her down the aisle when she married her third husband three years later.

How to watch The Baby Scandal That Shocked the World

The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World is being shown in the UK on Channel 5.

Its first airing is at 9pm on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

What is C5’s The Baby Scandal That Shocked The World documentary about and who are mothers: Tranda, Vickie & Judith?