Fiend jailed for girl kidnap bid
A PERVERT has been jailed for seven years for trying to kidnap a girl of nine as she walked home from a village shop with two friends.
Alexander Benfield, 25, grabbed the child from behind, but dropped her and fled when she screamed. He drove straight to a clothes shop to buy a new shirt, but was identified on CCTV.
Judge Tim Mousley QC told him yesterday: “A powerful inference to be drawn is that your motivation was sexual.
“I am satisfied that you intended to... drive her away.” Benfield had been on a break from stables where he taught children to ride when he targeted the child at a village in Gloucester in July.
Police found he had covertly filmed young girls on his phone. Benfield was attracted to “very young girls”, Swindon crown court heard. He denied attempted kidnap and actual bodily harm. Benfield, of Cirencester, Glos, will serve three years on licence and must register as a sex offender for life.