12/06/2006

Paedophile jailed for 'life'

A convicted paedophile who abducted a three-year-old girl from her home and sexually assaulted her has been jailed for life.

Craig Sweeney, 24, admitted kidnapping the three-year-old from her home in Cardiff on January 2, 2006.

He sexually assaulted the child at his room in a bail hostel, where he was staying after being released from prison for indecently assaulting a six-year-old girl.

Sweeney then drove over the border into England with the child and was chased by police until he eventually crashed his car on the A4 near Marlborough in the early hours of the following morning.

The toddler suffered minor injuries in the crash, but she also required hospital treatment for other "significant" injuries.

Sweeney pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully taking the girl from her home, sexual assault and dangerous driving.

At sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge John Griffith Williams QC said that Sweeney would have to spend at least five years in prison.

Speaking before the decision was announced, the victim's mother said: "What he [Sweeney] did will never go away. He ruined her life forever."

(KMcA/SP)

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