Oxford author Ian McEwan was today heading home with his 13-year-old son after French police found his runaway ex-wife just 40 miles from her home.

Penny Allen, 51, had absconded with the teenager on Wednesday just hours before a French judge upheld a decision by the English courts that he should return to Britain with the Booker Prize-winning writer.

Ms Allen was found with her son yesterday while on a bike ride in the Brittany town of St Brieuc after the pair had disappeared from her remote farmhouse - sparking an alert across France. Mr McEwan, who lives in Park Town, north Oxford, had travelled to France on Wednesday expecting to be reunited with his son. His solicitors confirmed last night that the pair were now back together. The statement said: "Ian McEwan was this evening reunited with his son with the assistance of the French police. Mr McEwan declined to press charges against Ms Allen."

"He hopes that he and the children will now be able to resume their normal lives in peace and privacy."

Ms Allen, whose older son from her 13-year marriage with Mr McEwan had already returned to Britain voluntarily, was feared to have fled the country with the younger child - sparking a watch at all ports and airports. But she was seen by French officers yesterday afternoon while riding a bicycle with the 13-year-old after apparently travelling to St Brieuc from her 15th century home in the hamlet of Bulat-Pestvivien on Wednesday.

Mr McEwan also successfully won a High Court injunction last night banning Ms Allen and her fiance, Stephen Ismay Tremain, from disclosing sensitive information about the court proceedings and the writer's life.

The court order prevents Ms Allen and her fiance from disclosing any information used in documents in the High Court of Justice Family Division, the Oxford County Court and the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Guingamp.

The action brings to an end a lengthy legal battle between the novelist and his ex-wife over the custody of their two sons after the couple's acrimonious divorce four years ago.

Mr McEwan won a ruling at Oxford County Court earlier this year granting him sole custody of both their children.

Story date: Saturday 04 September

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.