A HAMPSHIRE man has been jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of abducting a teenage girl.

Anthony Chick took advantage of the vulnerable 15-year-old and took her away for a week to a holiday park in Dorset.

The 28-year-old, of Beech Crescent, Hythe, had previously denied the charge of abduction but was found guilty following a three-day trial at Southampton Crown Court.

Chick struck up a friendship with the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, but her mum became concerned about the relationship and asked him to stay away.

The girl left her mother’s home to spend time with a friend and was due back later that evening – but she did not return.

She was reported missing and was eventually traced to a Dorset holiday park after a police helicopter spotted her and Chick emerging from a tent.

Chick was arrested along with another man, who was acquitted during the trial.

Alistair Wright, defending, told the court that Chick was trying to make a fresh start in life He said: “He is now doing substantially better than he was. He appears to be making progress in terms of a disassociation with his previous lifestyle and having set up home with a partner.”

At the sentencing hearing, it was revealed that the girl’s mother was so concerned she had made social services aware of the relationship.

Sentencing Chick to 18 months in prison, Judge Peter Ralls QC said: “At the trial you were maintaining that you didn’t know the age and was insistent that you had not been told by the mother.

“It is aggravated by your refusal to take heed of the concerns of the mother.”