26 October 2023 , 16:12
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A stranger approached children playing in a park and offered them money to go into woods with him in what was "every parent's worst nightmare".
A judge said Aaron Madden may well have had a sexual motive for the baffling behaviour. A court heard Madden, 37, is currently serving an indeterminate sentence following knifepoint robbery in a park after he had met a man for sex.
But on November 21 last year, Madden approached the two young friends playing in a park in Port Talbot, south Wales. Madden spoke to the children for some time and offered them money to go with him into a nearby wooded area. He put his arms on the youngsters' shoulders and did initially go with him before changing their minds and fleeing.
The children told adults they knew about what had happened, and the police were alerted. Madden was located in the area and arrested, Wales Online says. He was jailed at Swansea Crown Court this week after a judge described what happened as "every parent's worst nightmare". Judge Geraint Walters sentenced Madden to four years in prison consisting of four years for each of the two charges of child abduction to run concurrently.
Madden, of no fixed abode, had previously been convicted at trial of two counts of child abduction when the case returned to court for sentencing - the defendant himself refused to attend the hearing. The court heard that in November 2006 the defendant was made the subject of an indeterminate sentence known as Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) with a minimum term of two years for robbery and assault with intent to commit robbery.
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People given such sentences remain on licence for life after their release and can be recalled back to prison. The court heard Madden has been recalled to serve the full term and will only be released following a successful application to the Parole Board. Ieuan Rees, for Madden, called it a "baffling case" and said the defendant's behaviour both on the day and during his trial had been "strange".
The judge said the effect of the sentence would be that the defendant could not apply to the Parole Board for release until he had served the newly imposed term but, in his view, the "overwhelmingly probability" was that Madden would serve longer than that before being released.
Speaking after the sentencing South Wales Police detective sergeant Kristian Burt said: "Both children were understandably distressed at what happened but otherwise physically unharmed. Thankfully neither of the children were persuaded to go with Aaron Madden. However, I fully understand the concerns of parents and guardians in light of this incident, and I would like to reassure the public that child abductions are, thankfully, incredibly rare." South Wales Police said it did not have a custody photograph of the defendant.