The mother of the child recovery agent who remains detained in Lebanon after the bungled 60 Minutes-backed recovery attempt, alleges the Nine network had been doing research for a story about her son last year.
Georgina Whittington has been highly critical of how the 60 Minutes crew have been released while her son Adam Whittington remains in custody and facing serious charges for his role in orchestrating the attempted snatch of two children from a Beirut street.
Her allegations suggest planning for the Beirut operation or a child recovery story could have been under way for months at the network. It also may raise questions about who was pushing the job inside the network
Adam Whittington was arrested over the botched child snatch in Beirut. Photo: Youtube: CARI
Currently there is an internal investigation under way at Channel Nine and sources close to 60 Minutes have expressed concern the program’s new executive producer Kirsty Thomson might be blamed even though she had only been in the top job for about two months when the Beirut operation went ahead.
Both Ms Thomson and the former executive producer Tom Malone, who moved to head Nine sport in February, have declined to comment.
Ms Whittington has alleged that around September or October last year she was rung up by a Nine employee who asked her a series of questions in preparation for an on camera interview.
Tara Brown arrives back at Sydney Airport following her detention in Lebanon. Photo: James Alcock
Her son had indicated to her that he was working on a documentary project with Nine that would eventually be aired.
She said she remembered the phone call because it occurred when she was working at a local charity centre.
„[The other workers] didn’t believe me that my son was going to be famous and then my mobile rang and it was the man from Channel Nine,” she said. „He asked me some questions that they would later ask me on camera.
Craig Michael (right) in a photo from Facebook. Photo: Facebook
„They were going to do a documentary thing on him [Adam]. I’m sure it was Channel Nine.”
Ms Whittington said she was „so mad” at Nine’s handling of her son’s situation.,
„How can they leave him behind? He was doing a job for them,” she said.
Ms Whittington’s claims come as Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, whose two children were the targets of the bungled child snatch, has been keeping a low profile.
Nine has confirmed 60 Minutes will air a short segment featuring Ms Faulkner and reporter Tara Brown reuniting with their families on Sunday night. It will not focus on the events which occurred over the past two weeks.
Mr Whittington remains in custody along with Cyprus tattooist Craig Michael. He is facing potential kidnapping charges.
His lawyer Joe Karam has said his client is angry about being abandoned by Nine.
