A 42-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed after pleading guilty to abducting a child.

Gavin Sykes, 42, of the Holmfirth area, appeared in Leeds Crown Court today charged with four offences.

He pleaded guilty to abducting a young girl from the Woodlands Avenue area in Holmfirth, in June 2019.

The 42-year-old was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.

He was also sentenced after being found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Police received a report at 7.47pm on June 20 of a potential abduction and immediately deployed to the Holmfirth area.

The suspect Toyota Celia car was located 15 minutes later and stopped. 

The victim was rescued by officers and Mr Sykes was detained at the scene and arrested.

He was swiftly charged and appeared before magistrates two days later.

Police Constable Danni Nugent, of the Kirklees District Safeguarding Unit, said: "Sykes is clearly an extremely dangerous individual and we are pleased to see him receive a lengthy custodial sentence for what was a dreadful offence.

"He lured his young victim into his vehicle and it is fortunate the act was witnessed and quickly reported, prompting an immediate police response.

"We strongly believe the victim would have come to further harm had on duty officers not been able to deploy so rapidly and locate his car when they did.

"This incident has clearly been very harrowing for the victim and her family and we hope that seeing this man jailed will be of some measure of comfort for them."