Business boss tells of airport drama after ex-wife tried to cancel his passport

The ex-husband of Louise Begg has spoken of the moment he was stopped at Newcastle Airport by armed police officers.

Nigel Begg founded successful IT firm Aspire Technology Solutions in 2006 - and now employs more than 150 staff at sites across the North East and London.

Ex-wife admits campaign of harassment against her former husband

Louise Begg called police and told them her ex-husband was taking their children away without permission.

“We had arranged to take the kids on holiday and she called the airport, saying I was trying to kidnap them and armed police came to the VIP lounge.

“By sheer luck, she had dropped the kids off and wished them a nice holiday, so I was able to show the police our text messages.

“She just rang the police to embarrass me in front of the kids.

“It later transpired that she had contacted the passport office and tried to cancel my passport.

“This put the children in danger of being left in Turkey without me if I didn’t have a passport.

“Luckily the office called me to ask why I wanted to cancel my passport while I was out of the country.”

He added: “She also had omitted my middle name, which the passport office thought was odd.

“It caused anguish and stress to me and the kids.

“It was more about them. I believe she was attempting to make me look incompetent in front of them, but ultimately she put the kids at risk.”

Mr Begg went on to say he believed the punishment would have been harsher had their roles been reversed.

He added: “I do believe that if a man was guilty of such atrocious harassment, he would have been dealt with more severely than a woman.

“I handed over details of 42 incidents of harassment and abuse to police.”