Please don’t free the monster who left me for dead age 3
Child victim’s plea as sex abuse kidnapper bids for jail release
A TEENAGER sexually abused when she was just three has begged justice chiefs to block a parole bid by the pervert who preyed on her.
Craig Sweeney, who left his victim for dead after her five-hour ordeal, has applied for freedom 12 years into a life sentence.
The girl, 16, said: “He should stay in prison for ever, he will strike again.”
CRAIG Sweeney’s young victim has told how she still has flashbacks to the sickening sex assault the paedophile subjected her to when she was just three.
And the 16-year-old has begged justice chiefs to block his bid for freedom from a life sentence as it would only add to her nightmare.
She fears anyone depraved enough to carry out such a vile crime on a defenceless toddler will strike again.
The girl spoke out as it was revealed Sweeney, 38, is preparing a parole application, 12 years after he was jailed for life for kidnapping and sexually abusing her for five hours before hurling her naked out of his speeding car and leaving her for dead.
In a crime that shocked the nation, he struck just two days after a licence on which he had been released from prison for a child sex offence expired.
The traumatised youngster, who we cannot name for legal reasons but who we will call Emma, said last night: “He should stay in prison for ever because he will strike again.
DANGER
“I just think that if you have done something as terrible as this, not once, but twice, and have admitted it in court what right do you have for any kind of freedom whatsoever.
“It is very stressful to think we have to deal with the prospect of him getting out, life should just mean life.
“I often have flashbacks. I want people to know what this guy looks like, what he is capable of, people have to be warned that he is a danger to society and always will be.
“If I was in front of a judge right now I would just ask him, ‘Would you let this man into a room alone with your child?’”
Emma told how she was shocked to hear about Sweeney’s bid for freedom but felt it was an opportunity to confront the pervert for the first time since he abused her.
And she believed she would be given the chance to say why he should not be released. But she claimed she has been told that cannot happen. Emma said: “When the letter came I felt like I finally had the chance to speak with him.
“I want to confront him, I want to go to the parole hearing and stare him down, but I’ve been told I cannot do that so I was left with a victim impact statement. I couldn’t think how to say anything, I knew what I wanted to say, but I struggled to put it into writing.
“But it was frustrating because I was told I could not say what I thought of him, or whether I wanted him to stay in prison.
“All I could write was, ‘To whom it may concern, this is how I feel.’ But I 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
also been sexually assaulted. Sweeney was given life after a trial at Cardiff crown court. Judge John Griffith Williams QC told him: “You have shown yourself to be a thoroughly devious man. You kidnapped this little girl for your own sexual gratification.
“You subjected her to an extremely painful ordeal. It beggars belief.”
But his life sentence with a 12-year tariff sparked outrage. Emma’s family described it as an “insult”.
And their anguish has been deepened by news of his parole bid.
Pamela told how she has lived with the constant fear of Sweeney being freed and how she is terrified he could hurt another innocent victim.
Fighting back the tears she said: “The last 12 years have been a nightmare for me and my family.
“I wouldn’t wish on anyone else what we have had to cope with.
“Imagine bringing a young child up who is having flashbacks about something terrible and asking you about it but having to brush over it and assure her she is safe. It is horrendous.
“She has got brothers and sisters and I have had to pick each and everyone of them up at different times when they have gone back to that horrific night.
“They have all suffered in their own ways. This is what someone like Sweeney does to you, his damage is like a ripple in a pond, everyone becomes a victim.
“I have put a smile on for the last 12 years.
“But not when I got to bed, that’s when the smile falls. I have spent so many years crying myself to sleep.
“Why should this man have any chance of ever getting out of prison ever again?
“It gets to the point where you feel like the authorities are more concerned about a paedophile’s feelings and rights than the little girl he viciously abused. I don’t even like people describing him as an animal, to be honest with you, an animal would not have acted the way he did with Emma. “I don’t ever think of him as a person, until it comes to thinking about him coming out. “It makes me scared thinking about what he could do to another child.” Emma told how she struggles to describe how she feels about sick Sweeney. She added: “Hate is too weak a word for what I think of him. “He does not mean anything to me, I treat him as a non-person. “I heard he said he had a troubled background growing up as a kid but I am sure there are loads of people with troubled backgrounds that don’t use it as an excuse to go round doing weird things like that.” The Mirror is campaigning for a new law that would give victims legal rights to be heard, to be informed and to challenge parole board decisions.
It is supported by the three major political parties but the Government has so far failed to introduce the legislation, despite promising to in their last election manifesto.
The campaign was launched after the outcry over the decision to award black cab rapist John Worboys parole – which was later overturned.
It is being spearheaded by Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts and Harry Fletcher, director of the Victims’ Rights Campaign.
The Parole Board said of Emma’s attacker: “We can confirm the parole review of Mr Craig Sweeney has been referred to the Parole Board and is following the standard processes.”