Burnley man 'abducted' girl, 15

Burnley Crown Court heard how supermarket worker Syed Ali had fallen under the microscope of Operation Freedom, in which police were trying to protect vulnerable girls from being exploited by older men.

Ali had been found in a car with the teenager in the early hours but the court was told there was no suggestion he was grooming her for sex.

The girl, who was a week away from her 16th birthday, had become out of the control of her mother and was out and about on the streets and drinking. Her behaviour was being monitored by the police.

The defendant, of Thursby Road, Burnley, admitted child abduction. He was given six months in jail, suspended for a year with 120 hours unpaid work.

Judge Simon Newell told him the girl was vulnerable to the attentions of older men and he should have known better. He said the defendant should have kept away from the girl but there was no evidence he had taken advantage of her.

The judge added: "If you had been out to exploit her you would have gone to prison immediately, but I don't form that view."

Jacinta Stringer, prosecuting, told the court the 15-year-old was known to the police as a regular absconder from home.

Just before midnight on February 4, her mother rang the police and reported her missing from home. Details of the girl were circulated and in the early hours police stopped Ali's car on Trafalgar Street, Burnley.

Miss Stringer said the defendant and the 15-year-old were in the vehicle and police thought she was drunk as her speech was slurred and her eyes were glazed. Ali was arrested.

On January 29, he had been seen with the girl and he had been served with a child abduction warning notice.

Katherine Pierpoint, for Ali, said he accepted he had been extremely stupid.

After the warning the defendant did not contact her, but she got in touch with him in a very distressed state. There was no suggestion he had been grooming her or making inappropriate suggestions to her.