Child snatch echoes Bulger

A girl aged 12 was today being questioned after a five-year-old was kidnapped from a shopping centre before being abandoned.

The abduction echoes the case of two-year-old James Bulger, who was snatched from a Liverpool shopping mall 11 years ago and battered to death by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 10.

Police said the 12-year-old had promised to help find the younger girl's mother after they became separated at the Riverdale shopping centre in Lewisham.

Instead she took the five-year-old on a bizarre journey that lasted five hours and took in a swimming pool, a park and a clothes shop before leaving her outside a store in another town centre, soaking wet.

The girl's trip started after she lost sight of her mother at about 2pm on Tuesday afternoon while they visited a Poundstretchers store. A short time later the two children are thought to have taken a bus and walked into a shop where, police said, the 12-year-old obtained two swimming costumes.

The little girl was then taken to Waterfront swimming baths in Woolwich, where the pair were met by two young women. Police said it was not clear whether they went swimming. The next stop was Maryon Wilson Park in Charlton, where detectives believe the younger child was soaked after she fell into some water.

She was finally taken to a clothes shop in Woolwich town centre and changed into some dry clothes before being abandoned outside.

At about 7pm staff in the shop, which was closed by that time, contacted the police after seeing the young girl standing alone on the doorstep dripping wet.

The 12-year-old, who is from the Woolwich area, was arrested and taken to Lewisham police station for questioning .

Detective Chief Inspector Nathan Briant, leading the investigation, said the five-year-old's parents had been "sick with worry" and they and her two teenage brothers were left "very distressed" by the incident.

But he added: "She does not seem to be suffering any adverse effects. I think she thought it was quite an adventure. However, we are working with the family to make sure there are no effects later."