by Keith Hunt

Two young children were abducted as they innocently played close to their mothers in a park, a court heard.

Inebriated Timothy Wakeman walked off holding the hands of the three-year-old girls after telling them he would show them a Teddy bear in a window.

The mothers saw what was happening and ran after 47-year-old Wakeman to rescue the toddlers.

Wakeman, of Warwick Towers, Warwick Park, Tunbridge Wells, denied two charges of abducting a child but was convicted by a jury in less than 20 minutes.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the incident happened at Grove Park in Buckingham Road, Tunbridge Wells, in the late afternoon of August 5 last year.

Adaku Oragwu, prosecuting, said Wakeman was sitting on a bench with another man as the two girls ran around playing.

The two men spoke to them and Wakeman asked if they wanted to see a Teddy bear in the window of a house in Sutherland Road.

"The girls said they wanted to see the Teddy bear, so he took them each by the hand and began walking in the direction of the house with the bear," said Miss Oragwu.

"He was walking away with the girls quickly. As he did so, the women ran after him to stop him. He had walked 20-40 metres away.

"They shouted the girls' names and caught up with him. One of the girls was pulled away from him. He said: "I was going to show them the Teddy."

"He smelled of alcohol. They said they were going to call the police. He and the other man left the area."

Wakeman was not arrested until September 12. He admitted taking the children but claimed they were still under the control of their mothers and he had a reasonable excuse of taking them to see the Teddy bear.

But said the prosecutor: "Unless it is a life or death situation, there is never a good reason to take a child away from the lawful control of parents without telling the parents what you are doing."

Wakeman accepted when giving evidence that he behaved irresponsibly.

Sentence was adjourned for reports until March 30. Wakeman was granted bail.