Missouri - The biological father of the transatlantic Internet twins won a court order in Missouri yesterday granting him temporary custody of his daughters.
The order, granted by St Louis judge Jack Garvey, also prohibits his ex-wife from coming within 100 feet of the six-month-old girls.
The St Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Mr Aaron Wecker was awarded custody of Belinda and Kimberley until February 14th, when another hearing was scheduled.
The twins hit the headlines last week after Welsh couple Judith and Alan Kilshaw found the girls through an Internet service, adopted them and brought them back to Britain. Mr Wecker, of Arnold, accused his ex-wife in court papers of "failing to report to me on the whereabouts of the children for weeks at a time, subjecting the twins to illegal activities and underhanded and shady doings".
It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, the St Louis custody order would have on the proceedings under way in Britain.