Hunt for children leads father to Christchurch

An Australian father has arrived in Christchurch, desperate to find his children. 

Harry Speath hasn't seen eight-year-old Serena and seven-year-old Thomas since 2014. 

"It's been fairly horrendous really. I can't tell you how distraught I was in the beginning," he says.

The children are believed to be with their mother and his ex-wife Jane Adare who he had a week about custody agreement with.

"I last saw them [in December 2014] that was the day their mother came to collect them from my house, Thomas was pretty distraught he was crying he didn't want to let me go holding on for grim death."

Australian Federal Police have a put out an arrest warrant for Jane Adare, while Interpol has also been alerted around the world.  

Mr Speath is in New Zealand calling on the help of the public.

"They are in hiding, they have probably changed their name and appearance a bit - I could show you posters that have pictures - what the kids look like and what Jane looks like."

Mr Speath has the backing of child recovery specialist Col Chapman who helped track down six-year-old Que who was reunited with her mother after her father sailed away with her to Australia.

The Aussie father hopes that this story could have the same ending. 

He is optimistic that Christchurch could prove to be the hiding place for his ex-wife and end a two-and-a-half year desperate search for his children.

Newshub.