A Co Tyrone man who abducted a 15-year-old girl in Derry was yesterday jailed for 12 months at the city's Crown Court.
However the man, who cannot be named to protect the girl's identity, walked free because he had already served the equivalent of a year's imprisonment while in custody on remand.
Judge Corine Philpott QC was told that the defendant (26) abducted the girl in November last year. At the time he was on bail already accused of attempting to abduct her the previous September.
A DPP barrister said that he was caught on videotape attempting to abduct her from her school. He was charged with that offence and released on bail on November 4th but later that month the girl's parents, who are known to the defendant, contacted the police and said she was missing from her home.
The following day the police stopped the defendant in Fountain Estate in Derry. He denied knowing where the girl was. "The police searched him and found on him a set of keys. He said they were for his home but the police established that they were able to open premises at George's Street. A search was carried out and the girl and another girl were found on the premises," the barrister said.
Defence counsel said that nothing inappropriate of a sexual nature had taken place between the girl and the defendant, however Judge Philpott dismissed that submission as "a load of rubbish".