Two police officers who stopped a car being driven by paedophile Craig Sweeney believe they saved the life of the toddler he had abducted.

Officers spotted Sweeney, 24, driving without his lights on in Wiltshire.

But it was only after the 14-mile chase ended when Sweeney crashed the car, did officers find the girl, three, he had kidnapped and sexually abused.

Sweeney, who was living in Newport, was jailed for life for taking the girl from her Cardiff home in January 2006.

"It's my honest belief that if we hadn't found them tonight, that girl would not be with us today," said Pc Marcus Beresford-Smith of Wiltshire Police.

He and his colleague Pc Richard Moorhouse, who based in Swindon, described how they began to pursue Sweeney's car after they spotted it driving without lights into an industrial estate just in the early hours of Tuesday 3 January.

But instead of pulling over, Sweeney then began to speed up in his grey Ford Escort car, swerving violently and travelling at 100 mph at times.

At one point his car spun round 360 degrees and Sweeney drove on the wrong side of the road travelling towards an articulated lorry before swerving back.

During this point, as well as being pursued by the two traffic police officers, Wiltshire Police's helicopter was also being used to track Sweeney's car.

Sweeney swerved violently and lost control of the car, rolling it down an embankment.

He was arrested by the officers who were still unaware at this time he was wanted in connection with the abduction of the little girl.


We found a small child very quiet just sort of sat up in the middle of a field.
Pc Richard Moorhouse

She was found cold and shivering with a deep cut to her head by the police after Sweeney had hurled her out of the car during the police chase.

Pc Moorhouse said: "It started out as a normal night, we headed out to the motorway. We saw this Escort without any lights on and go into an industrial estate.

Pc Beresford-Smith added: "We were just wondering what this vehicle was doing going in to an industrial estate with no lights on."

The officers thought they were embarking on a routine traffic stop.

"We had no idea at all why this person wasn't stopping for us. We certainly had no idea there was a little girl in the car," said Pc Beresford-Smith.

The chase went on for a number of miles until Sweeney lost control and rolled the car.

"The vehicle sort of rolled over at least once it's difficult to say how many times but at least once," said Pc Moorhouse.

"First thing we saw when it stopped was some movement and I thought the driver had come away from the vehicle so we didn't know what we were going to find.

"We found a small child very quiet just sort of sat up in the middle of a field.

"She was very quiet, physical injuries didn't appear to be that many, she had a nose bleed and a small cut to her forehead. She answered questions directly but she didn't say what had happened."

Pc Beresford-Smith continued: "We contacted Gwent Police where the car was registered and they informed us what had happened in Cardiff.

"I spoke with her mother yesterday on the telephone, I've never met her, hopefully we'll meet in the near future. They just praised us for our actions and for saving the life of their little girl really," he added.

Fantastic work both of those.. maybe the public can now stop saying to traffic cops "why don't you start getting proper criminals now.."

Good job, lucky the child wasn't seriousley hurt if he hurled her out of the car. Its jobs like that make the job worth while

Just goes to show how something so routine as no headlights can easily turn out to be something else. Moral of the story is EXPECT EVERYTHING, BE CAREFUL, STAY SAFE!

another example that proves the need for proactive policing & PCSOing rather than speed camera nonsence

Firstly, what has PCSOing got to do with this story?
Secondly speed cameras do save lives, they are only placed in areas where there have been a certain amount of killed or serious injury collisions over a period of time.

I didnt dispute that and i'm sure that speed cameras have saved many lives but what i'm saying is that proactive policing, i.e. police and PCSOs on the streets DOES make a difference. Good old fashioned policing

Sorry, i'm Not trying to offend

No offence taken, I was just stating the obvious.
Oh and PCSO's on the street is not good old fashioned policing, it's a waste of tax payers money.

Put it this way do security guards in sainsburys make you feel any safer? No offence ROB but pcso's are the same money should be spent on real police maybe even special