A GIRL of 14 was wearing her school uniform when predatory paedophile Shayne Smith picked her up from a Kent railway station.

The abduction, carefully arranged after Smith, 27, had spent weeks grooming the girl over the Internet, took place at Maidstone East station. It marked the start of a nightmare for her family.

When police rescued the girl from Smith’s flat in the north of England and returned her home to Maidstone, the child she had once been was lost forever.

As Smith starts a prison sentence of at least six years for his crimes against the 14-year-old and two other young girls he met on the web, the Maidstone girl’s anguished father has issued a warning to parents.

“Don’t just sit there,” he said. “Your kids are talking to other people on the Internet. Find out who they are talking to.

“Have the computer in the same room as you. Don't let them talk to people up in their rooms. If you’re not happy, turn the computer off – pull the plug. Because otherwise, before you realise what’s happening, it’s too late.”

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK'S KENT MESSENGER