Ex-convict detained, accused of abducting girl for five weeks

German police said today they rescued a 13-year-old girl and arrested an ex-convict accused of abducting and holding her captive for five weeks after they followed up a note pleading for help that the child apparently threw out of a window.

The girl vanished on January 11 on her way to school in Dresden in eastern Germany and ,despite widespread search efforts, police said they had no concrete clues until a man came to them yesterday with a white scrap of paper with “HELP, HELP” scrawled on it in bright red letters.