Man jailed over schoolgirl kidnap

Williams was on bail at the time of the abduction, the court heard

A lorry driver who abducted a 15-year-old girl he met in an internet chatroom and took her to France has been jailed for five years.

Lorry driver Robert Williams, 49, of Glebe Road, Whitburn, Scotland, was sentenced at Grimsby Crown Court.

He had earlier admitted child abduction and sexual activity with a child.

The court heard Williams was on bail at the time of the incident, in January, after a complaint about a similar incident involving a teenage girl.

Sentencing Williams, Judge David Tremberg described him as a "sexual predator".

He said the case was "troubling" coming so soon after his previous arrest, even though charges were never brought on that occasion.

'Naive and vulnerable'

The court heard Williams was arrested in late 2008 after he met a 16-year-old girl on the internet and travelled from Scotland to Sussex to meet her, before booking into a hotel where the pair had sex.

He was interviewed and bailed in connection with the incident.

But just weeks later, Williams arranged to meet the "naive" and "vulnerable" teenager in this case and took her from her home in North East Lincolnshire.

Williams and the girl travelled by train from Grimsby to Doncaster and then on to London.

The next day they travelled to France on a ferry from Dover and were found a week after disappearing, on 21 January, when they went to the British Consulate in Lille.

Staff at the consulate contacted police and Williams was arrested and later extradited to the UK.

The girls' family said in a statement: "We are pleased that this man is now behind bars as it means we can put this ordeal behind us and move on as a family."