Bath girl's ordeal on Crimewatch

She was snatched from her home's ground-floor bathroom

The route driven by an abductor who snatched a young girl from her North Tyneside home is to be shown on the BBC's Crimewatch programme.

The six-year-old was taken from the bath of her home in Willington Quay on 27 December.

She was driven around for about 15 minutes and sexually assaulted before being dumped naked in an alley.

Police say she remembered vital advice from her mother and noted landmarks, which has helped them trace the route.

Viewers of Tuesday night's programme will be taken round the route by Detective Chief Inspector Jim Napier, who is leading the investigation.

'Good advice'

DCI Napier said: "The little girl was able to give us some idea of where she'd been taken by recognising various local landmarks.

"We later found out that her mum had advised her, if ever she got lost, to 'look for buildings' and this is obviously what she's done.

"It was good advice and it was remarkable that the little girl remembered it despite being in the middle of what must have been a very frightening experience.

The girl was found naked and screaming in an alleyway

"The fact that she was able to recall the route so clearly has been of major benefit to the inquiry."

Detectives have now been able to establish that the car in which the little girl was taken stopped at least once on the journey, probably near some factories.

That car could have been one of three seen in the area which detectives still need to eliminate from enquiries.

These are a red or burgundy VW, possibly a VW Golf with an M or N registration; a red car, possibly an old style BMW 3 series and a black Ford Focus which was making excessive noise, as if it had some kind of mechanical defect.

DCI Napier added: "Although there are good grounds for believing that the answer to this crime lies in the local area, it is still a fact that this happened over a holiday period, so there could have been people about in Willington Quay that night who were not from the local area.

"That's why a nationwide appeal such as this could be of value."