Attacker jailed for snatching girl off street

Kevin Holmes, 28, grabbed the child as she walked to her local shop to buy sweets, bundling his victim into the boot of his car.

After abusing her in a 30-minute ordeal, he abandoned her on wasteland in Fleetwood, Lancashire, and then drove to pick up his three-year-old son for a week's break in Yorkshire.

Holmes, of Crosby, Liverpool, even rang the mother of his child days later to warn a paedophile was on the loose in the area, Preston Crown Court heard yesterday.

The court heard he had no previous convictions and apparently acted on the spur of the moment when he saw the schoolgirl, whom he had never met before.

Jailing him indefinitely, Judge Christopher Cornwall said was an "utterly appalling case of sexual depravity".

Holmes was sentenced to serve a minimum of five years for public protection and will only be released if not considered a continuing danger to the public.

Judge Cornwall said: "Ordinary decent members of the community hearing the terrible details of what you did to this girl are likely to react with disbelief that anyone could act with such inhumanity towards a 10-year-old girl."

Holmes admitted kidnap, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by penetration at an earlier hearing. He went on trial in December on a further charge of raping the girl but a not guilty verdict was ordered to be returned after the child felt unable to be cross-examined in court.

The girl had left her home for the short walk to a sweet shop after her mother gave her 1. She left the shop to stroll across to meet her friends in a nearby play area when she happened to walk past Holmes.

He was stood next to the open boot of his Vauxhall Astra as she passed and he asked her for help which she sensibly refused, prosecutor Richard Haworth said.

"As she tried to walk away she was grabbed and manhandled into the boot of the car," he said. "She was in a position of darkness as the defendant got back into the car and it drove off."

Holmes then set off for wasteland next to an equestrian centre where he parked up and pulled her into the rear of the vehicle where he sexually assaulted her and then performed a sex act upon himself.

His parting shot was to threaten to kill her as he abandoned her where she sought the help of a passer-by and raised the alarm.

Police undertook an extensive manhunt as DNA traces from the attacker's semen were detected. It is understood the sample proved to be a match with a close family member.

When arrested at his home in Liverpool a month later, he told officers: "I hold my hands up, I can't stay on the run. I've abducted a child and sexually assaulted her.

"I've never done anything like this before."

In mitigation, Janet Ironfield said Holmes was a man of previous good character who came from a respectable family background. Written testimonials outlining his character had been submitted from his family, friends and neighbours, and his family continued to support him, she said.

She added that he maintained he had not rehearsed indulging in his sexual fantasy, had never set eyes on the child before and had not pre-planned the attack.

Sentencing Holmes, Judge Cornwall said: "You have cast a very dark shadow over her childhood. No-one at the present time knows how long that shadow will last. This is a terrible burden for her and her parents"

He said he was satisfied that Holmes was "highly dangerous" and continued to pose a strong risk to under-age children. If released Holmes would be on licence and could be recalled at any point if he breached its terms.