Girl, 14, ran off with lorry driver, court told
A 19-year-old man who befriended a younger girl took her away in his lorry after she had fallen out with her mother, a court heard.
Police discovered the 14-year-old's belongings in the cattle truck Andrew Jones was driving when they traced him to Hereford Cattle Market.
Jones, of Llangurig, Mid Wales, appeared before Welshpool Magistrates Court yesterday and was told he had been very close to receiving a prison sentence.
Jones, who admitted abduction at an earlier hearing was given a 12-month community order which included carrying out 200 hours of unpaid work and paying £145 costs.
He was also told he must not contact the girl and that the restraining order would run until the day after her 16th birthday.
Mrs Helen Tench, prosecuting, said the girl left her address on March 10 leaving a note saying she needed some space and was going to stay with a friend. But when the mother rang the friend's telephone she was not there and she then reported her daughter missing.
She told police she suspected her daughter might be with Jones and police traced him to Hereford Cattle Market.
"They searched an articulated lorry and found a handbag and, when they looked in the rear of the vehicle they found a cosmetics bag," Mrs Tench said. The girl was then returned home.
When questioned by police Jones said that he and the girl were "best mates" and were not in a relationship. "I do not think about her in that way," he said
. "We slept in the bunk beds, nothing happened," he said.
Mr Michael Davies, for Jones, said that his client had not sought the girl out but that she had repeatedly contacted him.
"There was no question of any sexual impropriety," he said.
Magistrates told Jones that the only reason that he was not given a custodial order was because of his early guilty plea and that he had no previous convictions.
