Registered sex offender admits kidnapping and sex charges concerning girl, 6

A sex offender who snatched a six-year-old girl off the street and bundled her into the boot of his car is facing a jail sentence.

The youngster was playing near her home in Burnley, Lancashire, when Imran Khan, 34, kidnapped her and drove her several miles before he exposed himself and incited her to touch his privates.

Khan then dumped her in a wheelie bin before she later freed herself and was found wandering alone in distress by other children on the afternoon of March 26.

Ahead of a scheduled trial today, the defendant today pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to kidnap, kidnap with intent to commit a sexual offence and breaching a sexual offences prevention order.

The registered sex offender was convicted in 2008 of abducting a 12-year-old girl in a car and sexually assaulting her.

Khan, from Pendle Street, Accrington, was jailed for nine years and released in 2013, said police.

Detective Inspector Jim Elston from Lancashire Constabulary's Force Major Investigation Team said: "This was a horrendous offence which would have been terrifying for any adult, let alone a young child.

"We continue to offer support to the victim and to her family and we welcome today's verdict and look forward to a sentence which reflects the gravity of Khan's offending.

"Imran Khan was a registered sex offender living in the community after he was convicted in 2008 of a sexual offence involving a 12-year-old girl.

"While we have rigorous systems in place to manage sex offenders who have served a sentence and been released into the community, this cannot happen 24 hours a day and unfortunately on occasion an offender may go on to commit a further offence as happened in this case. Thankfully that is relatively rare.

"There is currently a review ongoing into this particular case and we will clearly look carefully at the results of that to see if there are any lessons we can learn.

"In Lancashire we have specialist teams of police officers and staff who lead the management of sexual offenders in our communities. In addition, those considered to be of a certain level of risk are managed by various agencies including the police, probation, and the prison service through multi-agency public protection arrangements (Mappa).

"Eligible Mappa offenders are identified and information about them is shared by the agencies in order to inform the risk assessments and risk management plans of those managing or supervising them."

Khan tricked the girl into approaching his car by lying that he needed her help to retrieve a ball trapped under the vehicle.

He picked her up and placed her in the open boot of the black Vauxhall Astra and he drove three and a half miles to the village of Hapton.

Khan parked in an isolated lane and attempted to force her to commit a sexual act before he drove a short distance to Whitefield Street where he put the girl in a wheelie bin and drove off.

Her parents contacted police after members of the public took her back home when she was discovered in a distraught state in the street asking for help following the 20-minute ordeal.

Khan's vehicle was identified from CCTV footage and he was arrested at his home address two days later.

Adjourning sentencing until October 23, Judge Simon Newell told the defendant a custodial sentence was "inevitable" as he remanded him.

He said a pre-sentence report would assist him in fixing the length of the sentence and assessing the dangerousness of Khan.