Girls, 13 and 14, ‘stole dummies, bottles and milk before kidnapping girl, 2, in Primark for planned sex offence’
The teen pair were arrested in a Newcastle park after a little girl went missing
TWO teenage girls face trial over the kidnapping a two-year-old girl from a Primark with the intention of committing a sexual offence.
The Tyneside girls, aged 13 and 14, are also charged with shoplifting dummies, baby milk and a bottle.
They appeared in a 30-minute youth court hearing in North Tyneside today.
The older girl wore a hoodie for the hearing, while the younger one had a parka coat on.
Neither entered any pleas at the hearing and the case was adjourned until June 7 when the trial is listed to start at North Tyneside.
They are both charged with kidnap "with the intention of committing a relevant sexual offence" through the Sexual Offences Act of 2003.
They also face two counts of theft from a shop - dummies from Boots and the milk and bottle from a Sainsbury's.
A separate charge of kidnap, without the sexual intent, has also been filed.
The girls were smuggled into court under coats by two adult women.
They sat in the brightly-lit courtroom outside the glass dock on pink chairs.
District Judge Roger Elsey told the defendants they were to be remanded into the care of the local authority.
Their alleged victim cannot be identified.
The little girl was allegedly taken from a Primark shop in Newcastle's busy Northumberland Street last month.
She was found in a park in the suburb of Gosforth an hour and 45 minutes later.
Quick-thinking police used CCTV after the tot was reported missing by her frantic mum.
They were eventually tracked down the girl to Gosforth Central Park where the pair were arrested.
The case continues.