Paedophile who tried to snatch 11-year-old girl off street is jailed

Ben Hanger, 31, had also been unwittingly communicating with an undercover police officer, attempting to arrange the rape of a child

(Kent Police / SWNS)

A paedophile who tried to snatch a schoolgirl off the street has been jailed for 10 years.

Ben Hanger, 31, grabbed the 11-year-old’s arm in Sheerness, Kent, in January 2021, but was arrested after she screamed and ran to her grandmother’s house nearby.

Following his arrest, police revealed Hanger had also been unwittingly communicating with an undercover officer, attempting to arrange the rape of a child.

They also discovered child sex images on his computer.

Prosecutor Mary Jacobson told Maidstone Crown Court how the victim was walking along Halfway Road in Sheerness when she saw a man at 7.30am.

She said: “She was on her own when she walked past a parked Vauxhall car with a stranger inside.

“She crossed the road and the man was following her and seemed in a hurry.

“She was aware of him and slowed down at a bus stop in order to let him pass. Instead, he grabbed hold of her arm and whispered to her: ‘Come with me’.

“The victim then screamed at him to get off her, pushed him and managed to run off and she rang her mother.

“And but for her quick reactions things may have turned out much worse.”

Police trawled through video footage and an officer and the victim were later able to pick out Hanger in an identity parade.

He claimed he was only trying to steal her phone.

The child, who has suffered nightmares following the attack, later told police: “I was happier before.

“I felt as if I could go outside and ride my bike more often. Now I stay in my room.”

Hanger refused to leave the court cells to listen to the case being outlined against him, telling a security officer: “There is no way I am going to come up (to the court).”

In his absence, he received a 15-year extended jail sentence for the attempted kidnapping in January last year.

Hanger was given an immediate 10-year sentence and the judge added another five years which will be served on licence when he is released, after ruling he posed a danger in the future.

Judge Catherine Moore said: “Your motivation was sexual and you were trying to put into action your sexual fantasies you had in regard to children.

“You targeted the child and noted that there were few people around and pursued her.”

The judge said the victim’s family, who attended both the trial and sentencing hearing, had shown “great courage and dignity.”

The court heard it was only after his arrest it was discovered Hanger was involved in an on-line chat with someone he thought was a father of a baby and was trying to arrange a meeting for sex with the infant.

Ms Jacobson said Hanger was in fact talking with an undercover officer.

He admitted possessing child sex images and talking with the undercover cop and is now subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

He will remain on the Sex Offenders’ List for life.