VERY few people in the village of Tong have ever heard of Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana, but just about everybody who lives there knows Molly Campbell.

There was rarely an afternoon when the chatty and cheerful 12-year-old could not be seen, perhaps cycling with friends or reaching over a fence to stroke a neighbour’s cat.

Every Friday she would stroll down to the local youth club, and on weekends, rain or shine, she could be spotted on her way back from the beach, her hair caked in sand and her pockets bulging with shells.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “She was a beautiful child, so happy. I can’t believe this has happened in Tong.”

Another, a man aged 59, said: “She seemed a nice kid. She was always keen to talk and was wanting to stroke one of the neighbours’ cats. She would often come over to pat the puppy when he was out in my front garden.”

Nine months after moving with her mother to a small council estate on the Isle of Lewis, Molly was said to be adjusting well to life in the Outer Hebrides.

On a bleak, windswept hillside four miles outside Stornoway, the cul-de-sac of 24 semi-detached bungalows in which they found themselves may not have been paradise, but it was surely one of the last places on earth that Molly’s father would think of looking for her — or so it had seemed until she was snatched last week. Like many tight-knit island communities, it had another advantage: it was the kind of place where unfamiliar faces are viewed with suspicion.

Seemingly enjoying herself as she settled into her new life, Molly told her friends that she spoke Urdu, but that was all they knew of her parallel existence as Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana.

But there was a secret to Molly’s life that troubled her mother constantly, leading her to buy her daughter a mobile phone and make sure that she or her boyfriend took her to school whenever they could.

Few neighbours were willing to talk about Molly’s situation yesterday, but those who did spoke of a family overshadowed by the threat of abduction at any moment.

“There was a big car around here six months ago when her father tried to abduct her then,” one neighbour said.

“He was here with two private dicks, but Molly managed to get away from him that time. Since then she was given a mobile phone and told to keep it with her at all times.”

Another said: “I was told that Molly and her mum had already made up their minds to stay here no longer than two years.

“They wanted to make sure they were one step ahead of the father.”

Detectives said yesterday that Molly’s mother, Louise Campbell, had apparently chosen to move to the Outer Hebrides thinking that it would prove difficult for her estrang- ed husband, Sajad Ahmed Rana, to find them there.

After moving 18 months ago from Glasgow to Drummore, near Stranraer, Ayrshire, Louise believed that she and her daughter were safe, but the illusion was cruelly shattered when her husband tracked them down.

Confiding her plans to just a few close friends, she reasoned that the Isle of Lewis, one of Britain’s most remote communities and an hour’s plane journey from the West Coast, would give her the security she needed.

Violet Robertson, 67, Molly’s grandmother, said that her daughter had been so desperate to escape her husband that she had virtually severed contact with all her relatives.

“I haven’t seen or spoken to my daughter since then,” she said. “It really upsets me. Louise was terrified because she found out Sajad had hired a private investigator.”

She added: “Molly’s mum has been running from Sajad for a long time now. He won’t hand Molly back — never. I’m scared that’s her gone for good.”

Molly’s mother said: “Molly is a friendly, outgoing little girl who makes friends easily.

“She is quite tomboyish and gets on as well with boys as she does with girls.

“She loves her bike and often went down to the beach here and brought us back shells and things. She loves cuddles and is a very warm child.”

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