Dekker's planned trip would have made her the youngest person to embark on a solo circumnavigation, but judges ruled she was too inexperienced
Laura Dekker arrives at the Airport of St Maarten yesterday evening
Laura Dekker, then aged 13, and her father Dick Dekker at the court house in Utrecht in August 2009
Dreams: Laura Dekker, 14, who was blocked from a round-the-world sailing attempt, is reported to have been found in the Caribbean territory of St Maarten
The 14-year-old Dutch sailor who disappeared from home and flew to the Caribbean, has arrived back in the Netherlands.
Laura Dekker is being interviewed by police at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and will then be turned over to child care authorities.
Dekker was shielded from waiting media after her arrival early on Tuesday morning on a flight from the Netherlands Antilles island of Curacao.
She made headlines earlier this year when a court banned her from attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world.
Police now want to know how she managed to fly to the island of St. Maarten and whether anybody helped her.
Laura's 26ft yacht, Guppy, remained at its usual mooring point in the Netherlands.
Yesterday police spokesman Bernhard Jens said: 'We have a number of questions for her, including: How did this happen? Why did you go? How did you go? Did you go with somebody else?'
Born on her parents' boat in New Zealand, Laura spent the first four years of her life at sea and had intended to start a two-year solo, global voyage, but the Utrecht District Court ruled she was too inexperienced.
She had been living with her divorced father, a keen sailor.
Laura could be taken into care, said a government spokesman.
Having spoken briefly with Dekker on Sunday, family spokeswoman Mariska Woertman said Dekker was doing well 'under the circumstances,' but that 'we haven't had any time to talk yet about the reasons why.
'What exactly has been going on over the past few days or weeks. We just have to wait until she is back home and speak to her about that.'
Dekker's planned trip would have made her the youngest person to embark on a solo circumnavigation, but judges ruled she was too inexperienced and ill-prepared to set sail.
That decision took a heavy toll on Dekker and could explain her decision to run away from home.
The court also appointed a temporary guardian for Dekker, though it allowed her to keep living with her divorced father, also a keen sailor and seen as a driving force behind her plan to sail around the world.
The court wanted to ensure he could not allow her to set off without first consulting child care authorities.
Dekker's mother has remained largely out of the picture, but said in a newspaper interview she considered her daughter too young to make the round-the-world trip.
'We think we know the reason,' said Joost Lanshage of Bureau Youth Care, which appointed her temporary court-ordered guardian.
'She had a dream and it fell apart - that round-the-world trip. In the end she collapsed under the weight of the attention that generated and the dream being shattered. She is looking for some order.'
The Utrecht District Court had banned the trip until at least July 2010, but Dekker worried she wouldn't be allowed to set sail then either, even as she continued preparations, Woertman said.
'She felt pressured about the whole situation and everybody that wanted something from her,' Woertman said.
'She didn't feel that confident any more that one day she could really sail away.'
Jens said police would decide whether to speak to anybody else based on what Dekker tells them when she returns home.
What happens after that and whether Dekker is allowed to remain living with her father has yet to be decided.
A court spokesman said any decision was up to her temporary guardian, with whom her father must consult about any important decisions in Dekker's life.
Lanshage said his organisation spoke to both Dekker and her father last week before she fled, but declined to give details, citing privacy rules.
It is possible Dekker could be taken into state care, said Richard Bakker, a spokesman for the government's Child Protection Agency.
Woertman would not speculate on what might ultimately happen to Dekker or what her unannounced trip might mean for her trip plans.
'We hope we will be able to make things clear for her in her head and her heart,' she said. 'It has all been very emotional for her.'
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