Sunderland child abductor Stephen Turton jailed

Oct 3 2009 The Journal

A CHILD abductor, who raped a 12-year-old girl after snatching her off a street in Sunderland and driving away with her in a stolen car, has been jailed indefinitely.

Stephen Turton lured the girl into the car in Doxford Park in May and drove off with her, planning to take her to London.

He was caught by chance hours later when police near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, became suspicious when they saw the car in a lay-by.

By then Turton, 36, had raped and carried out another sexual assault on the girl, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Turton, from Merle Terrace, Sunderland, admitted rape, sexual assault, child abduction, taking a car without consent and stealing petrol from a garage.

The offences all took place on May 5 and May 6 this year.

James Adkin, prosecuting, told the court it was decided it was not in the public interest to proceed on a further allegation of rape, which Turton denied, against the same girl.

He said: "The facts of these matters are that the defendant took a car without consent. He then persuaded the girl into the car in the Sunderland area and drove off with her in the car saying he was taking her to London.

"In fact, sexual activity took place and the car was noticed in suspicious circumstance on the Harrogate bypass in North Yorkshire which is fortunately how this matter came to light so quickly."

When Turton was arrested he told police that the girl had willingly got into his car and that she had told him she was 18.

Scientific evidence linked Turton to the attack, the court was told.

Judge Beatrice Bolton imposed a sentence of public protection upon Turton and said he would serve at least six-and-a-half years in prison before being considered for parole.

Detective Sergeant Dave Cole, who led the investigation, said: "The horrific nature of this incident has been reflected in the sentence Turton has been given.

"This will hopefully help bring to an end a traumatic time for the victim and I hope the sentence begins to give her and her family some kind of closure and allows them to move on from the incident."

At an earlier hearing, Paul Currer, defending, said Turton had a history of psychiatric illness.

Three years ago, Durham Crown Court heard how Turton led police on a 100mph, five-mile car chase while drinking cider.

He received a suspended jail sentence for dangerous driving, drink driving and failing to stop after an accident after hitting a cyclist and driving three times around a roundabout before stopping. He was found to be almost twice the drink drive limit.