Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Never let him out.. he will strike again
RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS
was not allowed to say how I feel so I wondered what was the point? I wish I could be face to face with him, stare him in the eyes and just ask him why?”
Emma’s mum, who we will call Pamela, added: “My daughter was told she was not allowed to write about Sweeney or his release in the impact statement. She wasn’t allowed to say why he shouldn’t be released. This is totally unfair. He gets looked after and has all his rights such as being able to read my daughter’s statement. She was only allowed to say how the crime has affected her life and my life over the years.”
Sweeney snatched Emma from outside her home in January 2006 and took her to his grimy hostel at Newport, South Wales.
After abusing her he fled across the Severn Bridge to England attacking the terrified tot twice more on the way – as her frantic family launched a search for her.
Despite her tender years at the time of the gruesome attack, Emma said she still remembers key details.
She added: “Growing up I knew something bad had happened but as I became more aware I needed to ask questions to find out exactly what. Obviously it was only me and him but I do have a good memory of what happened. I remember he told me to come outside and get in the car, I did not think anything of it. “A three-year-old does as they’re told. I remember getting in the car and looking at my brother staring at me with a football in his hand as Sweeney drove off.
“I remember he took me to his house and assaulted me a few times. “Then we left and drove away and then he tried to kill me.
“I remember him leaning over me, opening the door, and pushing me out.
“I did not know what was going on, I was just thinking, ‘Why, why, why?’
“He left me naked at the side of the road. I still have scars on my head and stomach from that.” Emma’s ordeal finally came to an end when Sweeney was spotted jumping a red light by traffic police officers PC Marcus Beresford-smith and Sergeant Richard Moorhouse.
They chased him for almost 20 miles at speeds up to 100mph, not knowing the toddler was in the front seat. He threw her out before losing control of the car on the A4 near Hungerford, Berks.
Emma was found bleeding at the side of the road in sub-zero temperatures, asking the policemen: “Is the nasty man gone?”
The college student added: “I must only have been there a few minutes, it was pitch black, but then I remember a face standing over me, it was my hero, PC Marcus Beresford-smith.
“He picked me up, put his coat on me and then I ended up in hospital.”
Emma suffered head and abdominal injuries and medical staff were later horrified when they realised she had