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Teenage girls arrested following 'abduction' of three-year-old girl from shop in Newcastle

The incident happened yesterday afternoon at about 5pm.

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TWO TEENAGE GIRLS have been arrested by police following the alleged abduction of a three-year-old girl from a store in Newcastle, England, yesterday afternoon.

The incident happened at a branch of Primark (the UK brand of Penneys) on Northumberland Street in Newcastle at about 4.55pm.

It was quickly established that the girl had left the store with two teenage girls that she did not know.

An extensive search was carried out in the aftermath with specialist search personnel enlisted, while travel networks and CCTV footage from nearby shops were also consulted.

The toddler was located about an hour later several miles away in the Gosforth area.

The two girls involved in the incident, aged 13 and 14, were subsequently arrested on suspicion of child abduction.

“Thankfully the child was quickly located by officers and then reunited with her mother.  This has been an incredibly distressing time for the girl’s family and specialist officers are working with and supporting the family,” said Chief Inspector Dave Gould of Northumbria Police.

I would like to thank all of those involved for their help in finding this little girl and helping reunite her with her mother.

Our enquiries will now continue to establish the circumstances of what happened and speaking to the two teenage girls in custody regarding the incident.

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53 Comments
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    Mute Rusty Balls
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:05 AM

    This is very disturbing, the motive remains speculative by does conjure up memories of the Jamie Bulger case. Truly scary stuff.

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    Mute Caroline Reid
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:22 AM

    That was my first thought too

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    Mute Teddington
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:49 AM

    The margins on these things are so tiny, thank the police that this was closed out so quickly because it doesn’t bear thinking about how this could have ended.

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    Mute **eefs**
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:53 AM

    My thoughts exactly Rusty. A terrifying read.

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    Mute UndieGrundy
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:54 AM

    Fact the toddler was found in their company 3 miles away should be game set and match. They were hardly taking her home for tea and biscuits/ Shocking, shocking case.

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    Mute prop joe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:54 AM

    Thank god the girl is safe.

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    Mute Marg murphy
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:06 AM

    Thank goodness that ended well. Those two teenage girls who took four hours to murder a woman has ended any notions I might have about the essential goodness of children. Some are bad to the bone. Thankfully they are in a tiny minority but the fact that evil exists means that baby was not safe till she was located.

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    Mute Steve McMahon
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:21 AM

    If I caught some1 trying to take my child be it man women girl boy, even god couldn’t protect them

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    Mute Teddington
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:52 AM

    A make believe person isn’t going to protect anyone but I get the gist of where you’re going with this.

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    Mute jane
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:07 AM

    It’s not make believe to everyone Ted. He’s entitled to his opinion.

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    Mute Colm Vambeck
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:39 AM

    So Santa is real until your 10, and the Easter bunny, What about the tooth fairy.

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    Mute David Cagney
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:39 AM

    Jane, it’s either ‘make believe’ or ‘no belief’

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    Mute Austin Rock
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    Apr 14th 2016, 2:19 PM

    I think Steve most of us know what you mean – there is always a few though.

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    Mute Caroline Reid
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:26 AM

    So glad the girl was found safe. The mum must have been going out of her mind. Dread to think what the 2 teenagers had planned

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    Mute Leo Lowe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:28 AM

    Jamie Bulger, Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball spring to mind. The suffering endured by their parents must be beyond description.

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    Mute Leadóg Hackett
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:40 AM

    Take a day off Leo.

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    Mute **eefs**
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:57 AM

    @Leo The Jamie Bulger case is comparable, how are you seeing a connection with the other two boys?

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    Mute Leo Lowe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:48 AM

    Parents grieving over children murdered, children that they will never see again. It is horrific to lose a child due to illness, but to lose a child because of the actions of fellow humans is incomparable.

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    Mute Jimmy Murphy
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:38 AM

    Echoes the Jamie Bulger case which makes me shudder.

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    Mute Jim Woodcock
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    Apr 14th 2016, 12:08 PM

    There two girls are definitely not right, several miles away with a toddler? At such a young age to abduct a child just goes to show you that anybody of any age is capable of anything

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    Mute El Jefe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:00 AM

    Imagine if it was Dublin the child would have never been seen again. well done to the police on this one.

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    Mute grumpyoldtroll
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:03 AM

    Strange comment that

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    Mute Frank Underwood
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:09 AM

    Why would the child be never seen again if Dublin Jefe? Bermuda Triangle on tour? black hole? please explain

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    Mute Jay Coleman
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:15 AM

    Unlike Dublin major UK cities have a full circuit of CCTV cameras to monitor criminal activity etc. People moan about privacy and rightly so but cases like this justify the use of cctv in cities and Ireland should follow suit.

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    Mute Watchful Axe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:16 AM

    Probably a comment on the under resourcing of the guards here and maybe the lack of “specialist search personnel”.

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    Mute Mick Power
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:17 AM

    Some people seem to think we live in the most useless country in the world. If so why don’t they just f@ck off somewhere else

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    Mute michael o brien
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:22 AM

    Maybe because the UK authorities were able to call UN a specialist search team,something we don’t have

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    Mute Watchful Axe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:23 AM

    In fairness, it looks like they are going to have to picket TD offices in order to get the right equipment and training, if what’s said on the news is to be believed.

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:31 AM

    Given that the missing child in Dublin is hypitherical and imaginary, and the incident in England was real, I think Ireland is doing quite well.

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:31 AM

    *hypothetical

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    Mute Aideen Meagle
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:04 AM

    Very odd thing to say

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    Mute BannerBoyDesmond
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:32 AM

    I live in Dublin City Center and I think it’s completely covered in CCTV.

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    Mute UndieGrundy
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:07 AM

    CCTV is very useful when you have the on CCTV. How long does it take to get in a car and get away from it, though? Not long at all. We’ll be microchipping children soon.

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    Mute El Jefe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:42 AM

    1 example is Cctv in dublin is well below standard towards major UK cities. 2 the gardai aren’t worth a Fook in this country.

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    Mute Mick Power
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    Apr 14th 2016, 12:09 PM

    Hope you’ll never have an emergency that you need the gardai for, cos you won’t deserve their help

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    Mute El Jefe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 2:22 PM

    I’ve been lat down before by them. now jog on

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    Mute El Jefe
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    Apr 14th 2016, 2:25 PM

    “Let”

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    Mute Mick Power
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    Apr 14th 2016, 2:41 PM

    You’re grand el jefe I’ll jog on when I feel like jogging on

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    Mute Colm Vambeck
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    Apr 14th 2016, 10:42 AM

    Every member of those girls family’s needs to be investigated, this looks like something organised.

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    Mute **eefs**
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:00 AM

    Have you never heard of Jamie Bulger?

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    Mute UndieGrundy
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:02 AM

    Have you ever heard of paedophile rings? Colm is absolutely correct. Each home of those teens should be raided with delay.

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    Mute **eefs**
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:21 AM

    @UndieGrundy (If that is in fact your real name.. Ha) What I’m trying to get across is that teenagers and children are quite possible of committing horrible, unspeakable acts without any involvement from adults. I have read numerous books on children who kill and this article could have walked right out of one.

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    Mute UndieGrundy
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:38 AM

    Fair enough

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    Mute marian doherty
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:08 AM

    Jesus this is identical to the James bulger case , my god that child was blessed she was found, I have no idea what goes through teenagers heads these day,

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    Mute Veronica
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    Apr 14th 2016, 11:26 AM

    It’s not just “these days”, teens have been commiting atrocious crimes since time immemorial.

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    Mute junior85
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    Apr 14th 2016, 12:47 PM

    This is my neck of the woods these days, shocking stuff. Great work with the video etc to find them.

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    Mute Peter Cavey
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:42 AM

    Good God.

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    Mute Sinead
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    Apr 14th 2016, 9:30 AM

    That’s just scary, how often do we let our younger kids play away with other kids at playground etc

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    Mute Cal McLaughlin
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    Apr 14th 2016, 12:55 PM

    More worrying for me (now that the child has been found) is how the girls managed to abduct the child in the first place.
    Poor parenting taking your eye off a three year old in a crowded department store.

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    Mute Nicola Kean
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    Apr 14th 2016, 4:42 PM

    ‘Once upon a time I was a perfect parent. Then I had children. The end.’

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    Mute Ann Mangan
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    Apr 14th 2016, 8:17 PM

    I doubt if there is a parent in Ieland or the UK who hasn’t at some point” lost” their child for 30 seconds or a little longer in a shop. And that’s not a problem because 99.99999999% of the time there isn’t anyone in the vicinity who is waiting to pound. In that tiny % of times 30 seconds is all it takes.

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    Mute Ann Mangan
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    Apr 14th 2016, 8:18 PM

    *Ireland
    *pounce

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    Mute Austin Rock
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    Apr 15th 2016, 11:13 PM

    What is most disturbing is the motivation of the girls especially reading the charges and what is being reported.

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