Shevaun reunited with parents

Missing schoolgirl Shevaun Pennington was reunited with her parents today five days after disappearing with a former US marine she met on the internet.

Shevaun, 12, was said to be “safe and well” after arriving back in the UK this afternoon.

The joyful family reunion came within hours of the marine, Toby Studabaker, 31, being arrested in Frankfurt in a joint operation involving British police, the FBI and the German authorities.

German police said he told them she was already on the plane when he was arrested.

Superintendent Peter Mason, the officer who led the hunt for the pair, broke the news that Shevaun was safe to reporters outside Leigh police station in Greater Manchester, where the reunion took place.

“I have great relief to inform you that Shevaun Pennington is safe and well,” he said.

“Toby Studabaker was arrested by German police at Frankfurt this afternoon.

“He was arrested for abduction under the power of an international arrest warrant sworn out in the Greater Manchester area.”

Studabaker’s arrest came after police sources revealed that the authorities involved in the hunt had found child pornography downloaded from the internet on to a computer used by him.

Police also said that they had evidence that the former soldier did know Shevaun’s real age, despite his claims in calls to his family in the US that she had told him she was 19.

Police searching for the pair had asked media not to refer to these facts while the hunt continued in case it jeopardised the operation.

They also asked media to stop referring to previous child abuse allegations faced by Studabaker.

Supt Mason told reporters the schoolgirl had been met after arriving alone at Manchester airport at 2.30pm.

He said she had been with Studabaker “until very recently”.

Shevaun’s relieved parents Joanna and Stephen were seen leaving their home soon after the news emerged.

The breakthrough came less than two hours after Shevaun’s mother made another appeal to her to come home.

Joanna Pennington, 42, of Lowton, near Wigan, Greater Manchester, said: “Come home. Please come home. That is all we want.”

The schoolgirl disappeared on Saturday after arranging to meet with Studabaker.

The youngster’s parents raised the alarm on Saturday evening but it is believed the pair had already flown to Paris via Heathrow by then.

Supt Mason refuted suggestions that Studabaker had handed himself in.

The officer said he was not aware when the two had separated.

Shevaun had not been harmed in any way, as far as he was aware, he said.

Supt Mason said Shevaun, who rang home last night, had made a second phone call to her parents, Joanna and Stephen, this morning, during which she assured them once again that she was well.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations in Wiesbaden said Studabaker was arrested in nearby Frankfurt-am-Main around noon after German Police were alerted to the fact that he was wanted in the UK.

He was walking alone in the street in the city centre at the time of his arrest, said the spokeswoman, who was unable to confirm how he had been identified or whether he had put up any resistance to his arrest.

After being detained, Studabaker told German police that Shevaun was already on a plane en route to the UK, she said.

He is now in police custody in Frankfurt while investigations continue to determine whether he has committed any crime in Germany which would require him to face trial there.

It has not yet been decided whether he must face a court in Germany or can be extradited immediately to the UK, said the spokeswoman.

GMP said Shevaun had flown from Stuttgart to Amsterdam and then on to Manchester.

Studabaker’s sister-in-law, Sherry, said news of the arrest was a “relief“.

She told PA News: “This has been a very difficult few days for the family. We are glad it now seems to be drawing to a close.”

She said the family had not heard from the ex-marine since his phone call yesterday and had no idea that he was in Germany.

Speaking to Sky News she said she felt the media had been exaggerating the significance of Shevaun’s disappearance with Studabaker.

Asked about the discovery of child pornography on Studabaker’s computer, she said: “I think that the media is making a bigger issue out of this than what really has gone on.

“He’s not that type of person and we really do not like what is being said about him.

“This was all a mistake and a misunderstanding. He believed her. She told him that she was 19, she was in college. This is just a big mistake and I think Shevaun will straighten it out, I hope anyway.

“I have kids of my own and he’s never done anything to my kids.

“Kids are kids – they’re going to get on to anything. Kids are going to get on to the Internet, they’re going to play games.”

She said she did not know whether the child porn allegations were true or not.

“I’m only hearing this from you guys, I have never heard this from anybody else.”

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