5 April 2006
BATH KIDNAP: MAN AND WOMAN HELD
Cops quiz pair over terror sex attack on girl, 6
By Jeremy Armstrong
A MAN and woman were arrested yesterday over the kidnap and sexual assault of a girl of six snatched from the bath in her own home.
The 34-year-old man was held after a police raid shortly after 7am.
A 25-year-old woman is also being quizzed on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. It is believed she may have helped the man from Blyth, Northumberland, avoid arrest.
Det Insp Jim Napier said: "A man was arrested on suspicion of child abduction and serious sexual assault of a six-year-old girl. He will be questioned in custody."
The breakthrough came 14 weeks after the girl, who cannot be named, was abducted from her home in Willington Quay, North Tyneside, on December 27.
She was repeatedly sexually assaulted during a three-mile terror drive after a man took her naked from the bath. She was then dumped in the snow 300 yards from her home. She bravely told specially trained officers details of her ordeal, outlining the route which the man took as he drove her around Wallsend and North Tyneside.
Mr Napier added: "After being taken from the bathroom of her home, she was driven around in a car and repeatedly sexually assaulted by a man who then abandoned her in the back lane where she was found.
"This reinforces my view that we are looking for a potentially dangerous individual who may have deliberately set out to abuse a child."
The girl is now back at home with her mum, brother, and mum's partner. The family last night declined to comment.
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