Family's heartache as model banned from leaving US with baby can't come home for Christmas

A California court order forbids Sian Mitchell from returning home to Great Wyrley with her baby son as part of bitter divorce proceedings with her multi-millionaire hairstylist husband Angus Mitchell.

Mrs Mitchell gave birth to Dylan earlier this year but was handed divorce papers by the chef at their Los Angeles home just 19 days later.

Now Mrs Mitchell's grandmother, Pauline Morgan, has said that she has had to 'pay the price for falling in love'.

Mrs Morgan, from Love Lane, told the Express & Star that she has not seen her granddaughter for 15 months.

"All Sian wants to do is to come to the UK for a holiday, yet these legal battles are forbidding her to leave," she said.

"Angus keeps playing for custody of the child, saying that if she leaves it will break the bond the baby has with him – but it's not the fact that she won't return.

"It has all happened so quickly, we are all in shock.They seemed incredibly happy together and even were due to have a separate marriage over here in November.

"Sian had bought her dress and got everything ready – yet now it is all over. Before they went abroad we had a party here and Angus proposed to her. They seemed perfect together. He would even call me Nan," she added. "It's heartbreaking. She's paying the price for falling in love."

Because of the ban, Mrs Mitchell's family are yet to meet the new arrival. Her mother Debra has flown out to be with here.

"It is incredibly cruel, especially at Christmas," Mrs Morgan said. We miss her terribly. Angus came across so lovely but we feel like it has all been an act.

Mrs Morgan's daughter, Debra, who is Sian's mother is currently in California with her.

Mrs Morgan added: "We chat daily on Skype and I get to see baby Dylan, but it's not the same as having them just around the corner. We miss her so much."

William Morgan, Sian's grandfather, has not seen her in two years.

He added: "We feel like we have been used, it is so upsetting for everyone."

Sian Mitchell's step-father Ricky Harding, 53, who has cared for her since she was two, said: "She's doing OK now. I'm flying out Boxing Day, but she won't be back for Christmas. We all really miss her and want her back, it's all such a shock. Her mum's out with her now, but I can't get out there because I've got to run my business."

Mr Mitchell is the heir to the $1 billion-a-year Paul Mitchell hair and beauty empire his father set up with Jean Paul DeJoria.

Sian is a former X-Factor contestant with the girl band Icandy and a former Miss Coventry. She is an ex-pupil of St Dominic's High School in Brewood.

US court papers of more than 550 pages show how Mr Mitchell, 45, married two-months-pregnant Sian Morgan in October last year. She had moved into his five-bedroom, seven-bath $9 million home in Pacific Palisades eight months earlier.

"She is trying to alienate me and my whole family and friends from Dylan," Mitchell said in the court papers

But Sian, 24, claims Mr Mitchell won't stop drinking despite two trips to rehab. She said he even smuggled vodka and red wine into her hospital room within hours of the birth, and drunkenly pulled a chair out from under her while she was pregnant.

Mr Mitchell responded: "Nothing in my past interferes with my ability to take care of Dylan. I have not been excessively drinking alcohol for the past year. I do not drink when I am with Dylan, and I do not become intoxicated.

"At the hospital I had my assistant bring wine to celebrate with people visiting."

Calling her a 'flight risk,' he has successfully persuaded a judge to refuse to allow Sian to take Dylan to see her relatives in England. They argued about Mitchell's visitation rights, with Sian saying he couldn't have more than an hour at a time because she needed to breast feed the little boy whenever he got hungry. But he said she refused to freeze her milk and send it.

The case has also been raised by South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson. He has delivered a petition of 154 family and friends of Mrs Mitchell calling on the British Government to help.

Mrs Mitchell's LA-based divorce lawyer, Christopher Melcher, said: "Sian has not claimed that she is imprisoned here. She does want to relocate with Dylan, who is six months old, to the UK." He said it was normal for a parent not to be allowed to remove a child without a court's permission.Mr Mitchell's representatives did not return calls for comment.