Girl, 17, suf fers knife wounds in police van

Probe as teenager and man injured

A PROBE has been launched after a 17-yearold girl and a middleaged man sustained knife wounds in a police van.

The teenager and 45-year-old Stuart Lymer, both from the Staffordshire area, had been reported missing on Friday.

They were found 300 miles away, aboard an Invernessbound train at Perth railway station on Monday.

The pair were put in the back of a police van after officers removed them from a train carriage.

But it is thought they then both suffered wounds from a bladed weapon in the back of the vehicle.

Officers took them to Perth Royal Infirmary and they were later transferred to Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.

It is understood the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was initially placed in intensive care though neither sustained life-threatening injuries.

Both have been arrested in connection with the alleged incident and are expected to appear in court later this week. It is not yet clear what charges they may face.

It is believed that they were both still receiving treatment in hospital last night. The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) has launched an investigation.

The teenager was reported missing after being seen getting into a van, believed to have been driven by Lymer, near a Tesco store in her home town of Cannock.

Staffordshire Police said there was no suggestion she had been ‘forcibly taken’.

Lymer, from Uttoxeter, who recently resigned from his post as a library assistant, was in connection with the disappearance of the girl ‘due to her age’.

On Monday, the pair were pulled off the train at Perth shortly before it departed for Inverness.

Four officers boarded and removed them.

They were placed in a van at the station for a journey to police headquarters, less than a mile away, when the ‘incident’ occurred.

A PIRC spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that we have received a referral from Police Scotland in relation to the serious injury of a 17-year-old woman and 45-year-old man who were being transferred in a police vehicle to Perth Police Office, on March 5, 2018.

‘Our investigation is ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further.’

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: ‘Following an incident yesterday, Monday, March 5, within a police vehicle in Perth, a 45-year-old man and 17-year-old woman have been arrested.

‘Both are currently undergoing treatment at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee as a result of injuries sustained during the incident at Perth.

‘They are expected to appear at court from custody over the coming days, after being released from the hospital,’ the spokesman added.

‘Police Scotland has referred the matter to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.’

Staffordshire Police also confirmed that the pair were found on Monday.

But yesterday the force said it could not discuss why the manhunt had been sparked, given that the girl was 17 years of age and there was no evidence of a forced abduction.

‘No evidence of abduction’