When Molly Campbell made the 5,000 mile journey in August from the tiny village of Tong in the Western Isles to the sprawling Pakistani city of Lahore it must have seemed to drag on for several days, starting with a flight in a small hopper plane to the Scottish mainland, followed by a long wait at Glasgow airport, a jumbo jet to Dubai, and finally a flight to Pakistan.

But if it seemed like an eternity then, the journey the other way - from Pakistan back to the Outer Hebrides - will seem even longer for the 12-year-old.

After three months living a privileged existence in her father's 9-bedroom villa in one of Lahore's most affluent suburbs, the thought of returning to her mother's semi-detached bungalow on a grotty council estate outside Stornoway - which Molly described as a "hellhole" from which she was desperate to escape - will fill her with dread during the 20-hour journey.

Molly, who wants to be known by her Muslim name of Misbah Iram Rana, has revelled in her new life in Pakistan, not just because of the obvious wealth her father enjoys - Sajad Ahmed Rana has promised her her own computer, a new mobile telephone and has showered her with gifts - but because it has allowed her to spend time with her sister and brother.

Although both have their own lives back in Britain, they have spent much of the past 12 weeks behind the high stone walls that surround Mr Rana's residence in the aptly named district of Model Town, feasting on food provided by the house's dozen or so servants and occasionally taking a stroll with their sister past rose beds and water fountains in the property's carefully tended garden.

The two-storey detached villa, in an area where armed guards stand watch outside the houses, is set back from the road behind a 6ft-high wrought-iron gate and a fading pink perimeter wall partly hidden by brightly coloured bougainvilleae.

The area is one of the city's most exlusive, where billboards for laser hair removal studios speak volumes about the status and wealth of those who live here.

It is in stark contrast to the scruffy collection of council houses that constitutes the village of Tong on the Isle of Lewis, where Molly's mother has spent the past weeks wondering, often through tears and during long wakeful nights, if she will ever get her daughter back.

Although Lahore is a 3rd world city and the Western Isles an outpost of one of the world's most developed countries, in Tong that distinction is purely academic.

The cul-de-sac of 24 houses were Molly's mother lives with her partner Kenny Campbell is neglected and untidy, where dogs bark around the clock and, in one overgrown back garden, a car has been left to rust away.

Locals are wary of outsiders and far from friendly, watching every unfamiliar car with suspicion. Even the stunning beach below, where Molly was said to have enjoyed long walks and collecting sea shells, is not quite what it seems: according to locals, the sinking sand is so bad that few ever venture down there.

While Molly has spent the past few months rekindling her relationship with her father, she will shudder at the thought of having to face her mother and Mr Campbell - both of whom have been repeatedly attacked in court documents in Pakistan as unsuitable to be parents. The papers claim that Mrs Campbell - an "apostate" from Islam who was therefore an inappropriate guardian for a Muslim girl - drank alcohol and took drugs, and that she suffered from nervous breakdowns. They also claim that there were frequent rows between Molly's mother and her partner.

As well as the difficulty of readjusting to life at home, however, Molly will also have to put a brave face on her return to school. Assuming her mother remains on Lewis, she will almost certainly have to go back to school at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, the island's main town.

Molly has claimed that she suffered racist taunts in Stornoway, while at least one of her former friends has vowed never to talk to her again, claiming that Molly misled her into thinking that her father was seeking to abduct her and marry her off to a Muslim man twice her age.

The school, which has a history of bullying problems stretching back over a decade, is unlikely to provide the most forgiving environment, and is likely to seem particularly small and insular now that Molly, whose fame may be resented by her fellow pupils, has had a taste of the life she might one day be free to lead.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Echo confirms brilliance of Danish astronomer
• Electric shock as sales of green cars reverse
• National Gallery defends latest show