Teenagers who kidnapped toddler from Primark 'searched for rape on Google'

The pair, aged 13 and 14, have admitted abducting the little girl at a youth court in North Shields

The girls admitted taking the child from a Primark in Newcastle (file photo) (Getty)

The teenagers who have admitted kidnapping a two-year-old girl from a Primark store in Newcastle searched 'rape' and 'young people getting raped' on a tablet computer before the abduction.

The two girls, aged 13 and 14, admitted kidnapping the little girl at a youth court in North Shields, North Tyneside.

The pair - who cannot be named for legal reasons - admitted to leading the toddler away from the store in Northumberland street on 13 April.

She was found in a park three miles away in Gosforth an hour and 45 minutes after they were tracked using CCTV cameras.

It can now be reported that it was said at a hearing in April that a tablet computer was found containing internet searches for "rape", "people getting rape", "young people getting raped" and "poor little thing getting kidnapped and raped".

But a source involved in the case said there was not enough evidence to charge the girls with kidnap with a sexual element.

The girls also admitted to counts of shoplifting dummies from Boots and a baby bottle and milk from Sainsbury's.

It can also now be reported that the child was the second girl they had tried to abduct from the story that day after unsuccessfully attempting to trick another child's mother earlier that day.

In both instances they targeted black children.

Police began a city-wide search for the child after her mother raised the alarm (Getty Images)

Lee Poppett, prosecuting, told the previous youth court hearing at South East Northumberland Magistrates' Court: "There is several links to "African woman sexual activity' and the young child in this case is black".

He described the failed abduction of the first child where the two teenagers were playing with the little girl moments before her mother lost sight of her.

One of the teenagers approached the mother and asked her if she was looking for a girl in a green coat because she was waiting for her at the counter.

But the mother turned in the opposite direction and saw her daughter.

This attempt occurred around two hours before the "successful" kidnap".

After the second child's mother raised the alarm, a city-wide search began for the girl.

Officers trawled through CCTV from Newcastle City Council, local shops, Newcastle University, bus companies, the Metro and their own security cameras to find the child.

Mr Poppett said the girls had no criminal record - having never been arrested or cautioned - but had been known to social services for "quite some time" and have gone missing from home on a number of occasions.

Additional reporting by PA