EDL member who campaigned against child grooming avoids jail despite abducting schoolgirl

Paul Whiteside's to 10 month prison sentence suspended for two years after helping a 15-year-old run away from home

An English Defence League supporter (file photo) (Getty Images)

A high ranking member of the English Defence League who campaigned against child grooming, narrowly avoided prison time after he was found guilty of abducting a schoolgirl and “lying his head off” to police.

Paul Whiteside, from Creswell in Derbyshire, admitted helping the 15-year-old girl run away from her family home in Louth, Lincolnshire and having partially clothed pictures of her in the bath.

Prosecutor Esther Harrison said the 47-year-old knew the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, the Grimsby Telegraph reported. The court heard he had met her on several different occasions after school.

She said: "They had met through mutual friends involved in the EDL. She had on occasions travelled with him and others to various demonstrations.

"It came to light that she had met him on several occasions after school. He was parked outside and she was seen talking to him for perhaps up to an hour at a time. Neighbours were concerned and took photographs and contacted the police.

"The matter was raised with the girl and her friend. She accepted it was her and said it only happened once."

Ms Harrison said the girl then had an argument with her family about her relationship with Whiteside and ran away from home. She was reported missing but contacted the defendant who brought her to his mother’s house.

She said the charges relate to him knowing her whereabouts on that night but doing nothing to alert her parents or police. She said Whiteside’s mother called the police the next day and he was arrested.

But she told Lincoln Crown Court: "Nothing of a sexual nature took place. It is fair to say that there were some photographs on his phone of the girl. They show her in various states of undress and her in the bath. They were not deemed to be indecent images."

Whiteside, who previously lived in Louth but has since relocated to Creswell, pleaded guilty to one count of child abduction by keeping a child away from his mother in October 2016.

He was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, on the condition he completes 30 days community service. He was also banned from contacting the girl for 18 months and was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Sentencing him, Judge Simon Hirst said: "She rang you and told you that you were in danger and at risk of violence from family members because of the perception that you were in a relationship with her. You agreed to take her out of Louth.

"You were arrested the following day. You lied your head off to the police telling them you did not know where she was.

"On your phone were photographs of the girl in the bath and in a state of undress. You have not been charged with those photographs but it is clearly a worrying feature of this case. It is clear to me that this crosses the custody threshold but given your character, the basis of your plea and the fact that you have effectively done a three month sentence of imprisonment I can suspend that imprisonment."

Whiteside previously campaigned against what he called Muslim grooming of young girls in Lincolnshire.