Calais girl, nine, found dead after playground abduction

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/16/calais-girl-nine-abducted-killed

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A nine-year-old girl has been found dead in a wood shortly after being snatched in front of her mother from a playground in the French port town of Calais.

The girl, named only as Chloe, was playing with a friend when a man “appeared and grabbed her, forcing her to get into a red car”, prosecutors said.

Police were alerted and search teams were dispatched, one of which found the girl’s body 90 minutes later.

A 38-year-old man was arrested near the scene. Sources close to the investigation said he had admitted to raping and murdering the girl.

The man, a Polish national with a long criminal history, had been banned from French territory after being released from prison a few months ago, where he had been serving time for extortion and aggravated robbery.

Flags in Calais flew at half mast and residents planned a march in memory of the dead girl.

“It’s horrific,” said a woman outside Chloe’s school, where a counselling unit has been set up. “My son knew her, he didn’t sleep last night, he knows he will never see her again. I can’t even imagine what the parents are going through.”