Runaway Shevaun 'claimed to be 19'

The 12-year-old spent hours online, but Stephen and Joanna Pennington were not unduly worried.

"We genuinely thought she was speaking to people her own age," said her mother, after it emerged that Shevaun had run away with a United States marine, aged 31, who she had met through the internet.

"This is the last thing we thought would happen."

Mrs Pennington said she had spoken to her daughter recently about the dangers of the net.

She added: "We take a real interest in everything our daughter does, and we had a long talk with her about her internet use and told her never to use her real name and address when she goes online."

But last night it appeared that Shevaun had said she was 19 in her internet correspondence with Toby Studabaker - and that the pair had planned a meeting at Manchester Airport well in advance.

Sherry Studabaker, of Three Rivers, Michigan, told the Kalamazoo Gazette that her brother-in-law had been e-mailing a girl, but that he had believed she was aged 19.

When told she was 12, Mrs Studabaker said: "Oh my God. No, this chick is 19 - supposed to be. And she was meeting him at the airport."

Mr Studabaker had visited the family in Three Rivers after his discharge from the marines on 30 June, and his sister-in-law said he planned to spend a few weeks in Europe.

She said her brother-in-law’s wife, Jenny, died a year ago from cancer. The couple didn’t have any children. "He wouldn’t harm anybody," she said. "In fact, Toby is the kind of person [who] helps people."

Mr Studabaker had served for more than three years as a lance-corporal and left the services voluntarily with a Good Conduct Medal after completing his term of service.

Mr Studabaker took part in the war in Afghanistan, and a photograph of him making a final phone call before being deployed overseas from his base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, appeared in newspapers worldwide shortly after the 11 September terror attacks. Later, as part of an anti-terrorism unit, he guarded Taleban and al-Qaeda suspects at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.

The girl and the marine were at the centre of an international police hunt last night, after a search of Shevaun’s belongings and computer files revealed she had been corresponding with Mr Studabaker.

Officers alerted Interpol and an all-ports warning was issued in an attempt to stop the couple leaving the country.

But by then, Shevaun and Mr Studabaker were already in France, after flying from Manchester on Saturday afternoon.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed Mr Studabaker had flown to the UK via the Netherlands on Friday, arriving in Manchester early on Saturday morning.

He met up with Shevaun at Manchester Airport and the couple flew to Heathrow, before catching a flight to Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, where they arrived about 8pm.

French detectives were searching for the couple, who may have been heading south after a brief stay in Paris.

Superintendent Peter Mason, of Greater Manchester Police, said the meeting between the pair had probably been arranged some time ago.

"We are now aware that this was pre-planned and all the flights were pre-booked. My concern is for the health and welfare of Shevaun."

Shevaun, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, disappeared on Saturday morning, and was reported missing later in the day. Mr Mason said there was no suggestion that Mr Studabaker knew Shevaun’s age before they met, but would have been immediately obvious.

Shevaun’s mother, 42, pleaded with her daughter to come home, or let them know she is safe. Mrs Pennington said: "You are not in any trouble whatsoever. We just want you back, that’s all."

Her father, 43, said his daughter should have finished her first year at Lowton High School this week, claiming he was bemused by his daughter’s disappearance as she had plenty of friends and good school reports.

He said: "She’s just a normal girl; she loves punk rock and spends loads of her time on the computer. We keep it in the kitchen and knew she was talking to people, but didn’t know there was anyone in particular."

Warnings galore - but predators are out there

THERE have been a series of cases in the UK where older men have used chatrooms to "groom" young girls for sexual abuse - and parents have faced repeated warnings from the police and campaigners to monitor their children’s use of the internet. Surveys suggest the average youngster surfs the net for three hours a week, at least two hours of which are unsupervised.

An English judge recently warned parents of the dangers posed by chatrooms, after he jailed 48-year-old Peter Ashford for sex attacks on young girls.

Judge Anthony Thorpe said he feared that parents did not have the slightest idea what went on when their children entered chatrooms, suggesting that "parental control" of children’s internet use was a bit of a joke.

Ashford was jailed for eight years after luring two 14-year-old girls to his home and a hotel room, where he secretly filmed himself indecently assaulting them and subjecting them to unlawful sex. Police said that his crimes echoed a recent storyline in Coronation Street in which one of the characters, teenage mother Sarah-Louise Platt, was abducted by a stalker she had met on the internet.

After Ashford was sentenced, Judge Thorpe said: "This case is yet another warning to parents of the dangers of the internet chatrooms allowing men like you to strike up acquaintances with young girls.

"It is clear that many parents have no idea just what undesirable friendships are being established with their children over the net. I think the internet has a lot to answer for. The second victim is still using chatrooms."

In November last year, Philip Bugler, 45, of Leyland, Lancashire, admitted having unlawful sex with a 15-year-old Scots girl he had befriended on an internet chatroom.

Bugler, an occupational health nurse who was married with a son, took the girl to a hotel in Falkirk in August where they had sex.

He had pretended he was younger and was seen by the girl, said to be shy and lonely, as a "knight in shining armour". Bugler was jailed for four years.

Earlier this year, a 35-year-old train driver was jailed for six years for committing a catalogue of sexual offences against a young girl he befriended via the internet.

Andrew Lay, of Milton Keynes, first contacted the girl through a chatroom when she was just 12.

At the time, he led his victim to believe he was in his early twenties and communicated with her regularly over the internet and through text messages.

Lay later admitted to police that he had arranged to meet her on three occasions when he committed the offences, including having unlawful sexual intercourse.

The government recently launched a 1 million advertising campaign to encourage parents to help their children to surf the net safely.

At the same time, the Home Office has insisted that it did not want to demonise the web, but that it recognises the potential for paedophiles to misuse modern technology.

Safe Surfing

ALASTAIR DALTON

PARENTS concerned about what their children are up to online should learn as much about the internet as they can, and treat surfing as a family activity, the industry watchdog on online child abuse advises.

The Internet Watch Foundation said parents should get to know who their children are meeting online, make sure they are wary of strangers and never give out any personal information about themselves.

It said they should be particularly careful about children using chatrooms, and computers used by children should be kept in a room where they can be supervised. Children should be taught never to arrange to meet anyone they have met online without parental permission, and then only when parents can be present.

The foundation said parents should also keep an eye on the kind of material youngsters are viewing.

Security filters on the computer can be used to help ensure children are going to safe sites, rather than those containing unsuitable material.

Children should be taught not to open e-mails and attachments, or download files, other than from people they know and trust.

The foundation also advises parents to limit the amount of time children spend online and encourage them to keep up their other activities and friendships.

Children should also be encouraged to tell their parents if someone or something they have come into contact with online makes them feel uncomfortable or worried.

More information is available from the foundation at www.iwf.org.uk