A CONVICTED child molester who abducted a six-year-old girl from her bath has been jailed for life and warned he may never be freed.

Judge David Hodson told pervert Peter Voisey: "There is no mitigation and no remorse for what you have done."

The judge ordered him to be detained for at least ten years, but said: "It may be you never will be released, but that is a matter for others."

Two days after Christmas last year, Voisey crept into the girl's home on North Tyneside and grabbed her from the water where she was playing with her toys.

He bundled her into his car, which was parked in the back lane, then took her on a 20-minute journey, where he raped and sexually assaulted her, then dumped her shivering in the street.

The youngster was found by neighbours naked and crying.

Voisey, 35, from Blyth, Northumberland, denied kidnap, rape and sexual assault throughout the three-week trial, but was found guilty of all charges.

Jurors were told that Voisey, who lived from the age of six until he was 14 in a council-run boarding school in Darlington, had already served a jail sentence for attacking a 12-year-old girl at a leisure centre in Cheshire in 2001.

At Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, Judge Hodson told Voisey: "She was, anyone might think, as safe as she could be in her own bath in her own house.

"No one would dream that she was in imminent peril of being kidnapped.

"What must have been going on in that little girl's mind as you did that is almost impossible to imagine."

As he was jailed, Voisey shouted at senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Jim Napier: "You know I am innocent."

Afterwards, Det Chief Insp Napier said: "Today's sentence should ensure he is not a danger to children for many years to come. The victim's family were also in court today and they tell me they are delighted at the length of this sentence.

"This was a complex investigation into what was undoubtedly a horrific offence."

The force had carried out an internal review into the handling of Voisey.

Det Chief Insp Napier said: "Management of sex offenders is about reducing risk, not eliminating it.

"Voisey was not subject to 24/7 surveillance and there were no restrictions on where he could live or areas he could visit. There were also no employment restrictions.

"However, we have to remember that it was precisely because Voisey was a registered sex offender that he figured so early in the investigation."