Just as it seemed that she was about to get her way and have her daughter sent back to live with her in Britain, Molly Campbell's mother appears to have reasoned that the best way of guaranteeing her future relationship with Molly is to bow to her wishes rather than force her to leave Pakistan.

Whether her mind has been changed by telephone calls and emails with Molly over Christmas, or just a long hard think about her predicament, Louise Campbell, 38, appears to have decided that her 12-year-old daughter, whose Muslim name is Misbah Rana, should be given the freedom of choice to decide where she wants to live and not be subjected to any more wrangling in court.

Although Ms Campbell won a courtroom victory in Pakistan before Christmas ruling that Molly be sent back to Scotland to live with her in the Outer Hebrides, her father was in the process of challenging that decision in Pakistan's Supreme Court - and Molly herself had given warning that she would only run away again if sent back to Britain.

She has already done this once, sparking an international police hunt when she went missing from her home on the Isle of Lewis in August, and re-emerging days later with her father and siblings in Lahore, Pakistan's bustling second city. The pain and distress this caused Ms Campbell was clearly visible at the time, and the thought of having to go through this a second time has no doubt focused her mind.

Although only 12, Molly has impressed onlookers with her maturity and clarity of thinking. Once it was clear that she had not been taken to Pakistan against her will - and by a father who, instead of wanting to marry her off to a Muslim twice her age, as initial reports suggested, appeared genuinely besotted by her - then there were increasingly few reasons for anybody to want to put her through more stress by sending her back to Scotland.

Although the finer points of an out-of-court settlement granting Ms Campbell regular access to her daughter have yet to be worked out, the solution agreed yesterday appears to be the best for all concerned. Ms Campbell's lawyer also made clear that her client had been motivated by her fragile health, an issue that her former husband has at times sought to exploit in an attempt to highlight her apparent unsuitability to raise Molly.

Ms Campbell has suffered repeatedly mental breakdowns in the past, while in recent weeks she has been trying to cope with the pressures of raising her newest child - a baby daughter, born last summer. The reported breakdown of her relationship with her partner in Stornoway has added to her stress, while round-the-clock media scrutiny has also dealt a heavy blow to her ability to cope.

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