Six-year-old girl was abducted and assaulted

Bobby Carr, who was yesterday jailed for 10 years at Bolton Crown Court, kidnapped the youngster and took her to a “dark place”, where he sexually assaulted her.

She begged him to take her home, but the 19-year-old refused.

More than 50 police officers, a helicopter, dog handlers and people from the local community launched a frantic search for the little girl when she disappeared from her Tonge Moor home on the evening of September 21 last year.

Social networking websites, such as Twitter and Facebook, were flooded with hundreds of people desperate for information of her whereabouts.

The frightened and muddy child was eventually spotted with her abductor by a student nurse outside the Royal Bolton Hospital just after 11pm that night and reunited with her distraught parents.

In court yesterday, the full story of the child’s abduction was told before Carr, of Moorland Drive, Little Hulton , was given an extended prison sentence for public protection.

At an earlier hearing he had pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, abduction and sexual assault.

Michael Lavery, prosecuting, told the court how the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was at home with her family on that evening.

Her older brother and his friend had gone to play on their bikes in the local park when Carr knocked on the family’s door at 5.15pm.

He asked the girl’s father where the park was as he wanted to get his bicycle back from the son’s friend.

The dad wanted his son to come home so, believing Carr was a friend of the boy’s family, told his daughter to go to the park with Carr and bring her brother home.

Mr Lavery said: “The father believed the defendant to be a friend of the boy’s mother and was responsible enough to trust with the care of his daughter — sadly he was wrong.”

Panic first set in when the little girl’s brother returned home without her at 7pm and the father contacted his son’s friend’s family, only to discover they did not really know Carr.

Police were called and the word went out over social networking websites that the child was missing.

“Her parents began to fear the worst, her mother fearful she would never see her child again,” said Mr Lavery.

She was finally found at 11.12pm by a student nurse taking a cigarette break who became suspicious of a man with the small child near the hospital.

A police officer arrived a short time later, arrested Carr and reunited the little girl with her family.

Mr Lavery said: “Officers who first dealt with her described her as having a dirty appearance and being very quiet with her clothing wet and muddy.”

A physical examination revealed she had cuts and bruises on her back, buttocks and legs, her underwear was muddy and forensics found physical evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.

She told detectives how Carr had taken her to a dark place where there were trees and told her he would “kill her” if she did not let him sexually assault her.

As she lay in the woods, she spotted the lights from the police helicopter which was looking for her.

Mr Lavery said that since the attack the child has become fearful of people and refuses to play out.

The court was told that whilst in custody awaiting sentence, Carr was caught attempting to write to the 13-year-old victim of a fellow sex offender prisoner.

Michael Knowles, defending, said Carr, who has mild learning difficulties, “deeply regrets” what happened, but added that the abduction was not pre-planned.

“It appears to have been committed, in part, due to the fact he had consumed alcohol,” he said.

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Timothy Clayson, told Carr he poses a significant risk to the public and so passed an extended sentence for public protection of 10 years, with a further three years on licence.

He was also banned from working with children and will have to notify police of his whereabouts for the rest of his life.

A Sex Offences Prevention Order was also made prohibiting him from communicating with any person under the age of 16 without a responsible adult being present, and not to contact other sex offenders unless on a course or in prison.