A man who hid a missing 15-year-old girl in a hollow sofa when police looked for her at his home has been jailed for nine months.

Daniel Sampson had befriended the troubled teenager after she left home while having a volatile relationship with her mother, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The 23-year-old unemployed labourer, of Codrington Crescent, Gravesend, admitted child abduction. His not guilty pleas to five similar charges were accepted.

Jane Scotchmer, prosecuting, said the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had been living with her parents in Gillingham and some times with grandparents.

Ms Scotchmer added: "She remains a very vulnerable young woman and was out of parental controls. She went missing on several occasions and her parents called the police."

Miss Scotchmer said the girl disappeared again in March this year. Police went to see Sampson and issued him with a child abduction warning.

Officers returned to his flat in May. He denied she was there and refused to let them in. They went back two days later and found the teenager hiding in the sofa in the living room.

The prosecutor said the girl had refused to make a statement or support the prosecution.

As she was close to her 16th birthday, she said, it was not necessary to ask for a restraining order.

Judge Richard Polden said it was a serious offence, the maximum sentence for which was seven years imprisonment.

"I take into account no physical harm was caused to the child," he said. "But it is the child's protection that is paramount to the court.

"I have no doubt the mother was concerned about what was going on."

The judge said 18 months to two years imprisonment would normally be imposed for such an offence.

But he added: "I accept the circumstances are unique. That entitles me to reduce the length of the sentence to nine months imprisonment.

"That is the shortest sentence which matches the seriousness of the offence."

Because of time spent on remand, Sampson is likely to be released in just over a month.