November 2011

Teenager who abducted 10-year-old girl is jailed

TEENAGER Daniel Carter has been jailed for 32 months after abducting a 10-year-old girl in a popular park.

The 18-year-old was high on a cocktail of cocaine, cannabis and alcohol when he grabbed the girl who was out with her dad in Hanley’s Central Forest Park.

He put his hand over her mouth and dragged her into bushes where a second teenager waited.

He then took photos of her and threatened to cut her throat as he kept her in the bushes for up to 20 minutes.

The brave girl’s ordeal finally came to an end when she heard her dad looking for her and shouted out: “Dad, a man’s got me, he is trying to take me.”

By coincidence a police helicopter was circling above on a training exercise and the two surprised teenagers ran off in a panic.

Police later found a jacket and a mobile phone case in the bushes which belonged to Carter.

After being arrested, Carter told police he was “off his head” on booze and drugs and had no sexual interest in young girls.

Carter, of Leonard Street, Burslem, who pleaded guilty to child abduction, has been sentenced to 32 months in a young offenders’ institution.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard the girl had become separated from her dad when another youngster in their group hurt himself and needed an ambulance.

The girl is still undergoing a programme of counselling.

Sentencing Carter, Judge Paul Glenn said: “This 10-year-old girl had simply gone to the park to play.

“When her father found out she was missing, it is every parent’s worst nightmare.

“When he found her she was hysterical, crying and shaking like a leaf.

“She was a very brave little girl.

“I view you as potentially dangerous.”

Staffordshire Police stepped up patrols at the park following the abduction on the afternoon of Sunday, July 24.

Detective Inspector Dave Giles, who led the inquiry, said: “The girl’s parents feel Carter should serve his full 32 months of imprisonment.

“Their daughter has been severely traumatised, she suffers with nightmares and is now very afraid when out in public.

“Since the attack she refuses to visit her father’s address in Stoke-on-Trent, because that is near where the crime occurred and this reduced access for the father has caused their relationship to deteriorate.

“The quick reactions of the victim’s father in raising the alarm prevented the offence progressing into something more serious.”

A 16-year-old Stoke-on-Trent boy, arrested in July as part of the same inquiry, has been released from his bail without charge.

Police are still hunting for the second youngster who was in the bushes with Carter.

Anyone with information should call police on             0300 1234455