STEPHEN CARTER, CARLISLE PAEDOPHILE, JAILDED FOR GROOMING AND ABDUCTION

In December 2006, Stephen Carter, a 47-year-old delivery driver from Deepdale Drive, Carlisle, was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of grooming and abducting a 14-year-old girl. Carter also received a lifelong order to register as a sex offender. During a hearing at Warwick Crown Court, he admitted to charges including sexual activity with the young girl and another girl aged 15, as well as grooming and kidnapping.

Carter's crimes occurred between January last year and May this year. He was arrested in June after the 14-year-old girl went missing from her home in North Warwickshire. Her disappearance led to a thorough police investigation, and she was located in Cumbria just a day later.

Both the 14-year-old victim and the older girl from Cumbria are legally protected from identification.

Court proceedings revealed that Carter used an internet chat site to groom the younger girl over more than six months, even providing her with a mobile phone.

Discussing the case, Warwickshire Police's Detective Chief Inspector Nav Malik commented: "This conviction highlights the major concerns there are with chatrooms where older men purporting to be teenagers are able to engage in conversations with young girls, extracting information and forming liaisons."

Regarding the victim from North Warwickshire, he added: "The fact that Carter elected to plead guilty when he appeared before the court does at least mean that his young victim has been spared the trauma of having to give evidence. We will be supporting her as an ongoing process and hope that she will be able to put this ordeal behind her."