Girls in toddler kidnap looked up ‘rape’ online

TWO teenage sisters have admitted kidnapping a two-year-old girl from a Primark store after carrying out computer searches on subjects including “young people getting raped”.

The pair, aged 13 and 14, had been charged with kidnap with the intention of committing a sexual offence, but the prosecution accepted a guilty plea to the lesser charge of kidnap during the hearing at a youth court in North Shields, North Tyneside.

When police examined a tablet computer belonging to the pair they discovered search terms including “rape”, “poor little thing getting kidnapped and raped” and “African woman sexual activity”.

The court heard that the pair had previously made a failed attempt to kidnap another toddler from the same store in Newcastle. Both children they targeted were black.

The girls, who cannot be identified, had no criminal record and had never been arrested or cautioned.

Lee Poppett, prosecuting, said they had been known to social services for “quite some time” and had gone missing from home on a number of occasions.

The judge adjourned the case for sentencing on July 4.

Last night the father of the kidnap victim said the pair had offered his daughter sweets before pouncing while his wife was distracted by a phone call.

He said: “What comes back to me is why did they do it? And what happened in the time that they were with her? As far as I know my daughter has been fine ever since and she is not likely to remember what happened to her.”