Outrage over sentence

A CONVICTED paedophile who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a three-year-old girl was yesterday jailed for a minimum of five years, sparking outrage from the child’s family and immediate calls for the “unduly lenient” sentence to be referred to Britain’s Court of Appeal.

Craig Sweeney, 24, of Caerleon Road, Newport in South Wales, snatched the girl from her home in the Llanrumney area of Cardiff on the evening of January 2 of this year as her mother spoke on the phone.

He took her back to his accommodation in Newport before sexually abusing her. In the early hours of the following morning he was caught after overturning his car between Hungerford and Marlborough with the child inside.