ex-Marine and Runaway

[Theresa]

LONDON (July 15) - British police officers flew to Paris on Tuesday to hunt for a former U.S. Marine and a 12-year-old British schoolgirl who are thought to have run away to France together after meeting on the Internet.

British police said they doubted an assertion by French police that the girl had returned to Britain without him.

Schoolgirl Shevaun Pennington left home on Saturday to meet Toby Studabaker, 31, who had flown to Britain from the United States on Friday night. Police say the pair met online and had been in contact for some time via e-mail and letter.

After initially saying the girl had never entered France, French police said they believed she had spent time at Paris's Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport and then boarded an EasyJet flight to Liverpool the same day without the ex-Marine.

"She left with a group which did not seem to include the name of her American friend," a French police spokesman said.

But Britain's Greater Manchester Police said the French may have mistaken her identity.

"We have been informed by Interpol that an S. Pennington did leave Charles de Gaulle airport at about 10:45 on Saturday evening," inspecting officer Peter Mason said.

"However, we are very, very dubious that that is our Shevaun Pennington, as that S. Pennington was part of a group of five persons," he said. "We're...making enquiries with EasyJet and obviously John Lennon airport in Liverpool and also Charles de Gaulle airport."

He said two British police officers had flown to France on Tuesday afternoon.

Studabaker's family said he had talked about going to Ireland. His brother Leo told Britain's Good Morning Television the ex-Marine had no idea Shevaun was so young. He said they had discussed marriage and having children.

"They had talked of possibly marriage and kids and that's part of the reason why he went to Europe, to meet her and find out exactly what she wanted to do," he said.

INTERNET GROOMING

Studabaker was discharged from the U.S. military on June 30 after serving for more than three years. He was a lance corporal based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

He left Detroit late on Friday and flew to Manchester, northern England, near the girl's home.

The schoolgirl's disappearance has rekindled concern in Britain over so-called "grooming" by pedophile adults who prey on children via the Internet.

Home Secretary David Blunkett addressed those concerns in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

"There isn't a parent who knows and understands that their child will use the Internet who doesn't have great sympathy with them (Shevaun's parents) in terms of what has happened and the way it has happened," Blunkett said.

In France, television stations flashed up pictures of the pair in an effort to find witnesses who might have spotted them.

(Additional reporting by Joelle Diderich in Paris)

07/15/03 12:55 ET

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.

[IntrepidIsMe]

Wow, that must be disturbing for her parents.

[Theresa]

LONDON (July 16) -- The 12-year-old schoolgirl who ran away with a former U.S. Marine she met on the Internet was reunited with her parents on Wednesday, police said shortly after announcing that the Marine had been arrested in Germany.

Shevaun Pennington already was on her way back to Britain when Toby Studabaker, 31, was arrested in downtown Frankfurt, police said.

Police said the girl flew back to Britain from Stuttgart via Amsterdam. Officers from Greater Manchester Police met her at the airport around 2:30 p.m., an hour after Studabaker had been arrested.

She was then taken to a police station in Leigh, near her home, for a reunion with her parents, Stephen and Joanna Pennington.

Shevaun left Britain with Studabaker on Saturday, police said.

Studabaker ''was arrested for abduction under the power of an international arrest warrant,'' police Superintendent Peter Mason told reporters.

Police sources said images of child pornography were discovered on Studabaker's computer during investigations into the missing pair. The sources also said they had evidence, again taken from Studabaker's computer, that the ex-Marine knew that Shevaun was 12, not 18 or 19, as he had claimed to relatives.

The pair had last been traced to Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, where they arrived on a flight Saturday.

Shevaun made two phone calls home to her parents in Lowton, northwest England, on Tuesday and earlier Wednesday, saying she was well and not being kept against her will. In the second, she told her parents she was preparing to return to Britain.

''I am not aware that she has been harmed in any away, but again we haven't had the opportunity to speak with her yet,'' Mason said.

Christian Brockert, a spokesman for the Federal Criminal authorities in Frankfurt, said local police arrested Studabaker Wednesday afternoon.

The ex-Marine told police upon his arrest that the girl was in an airplane on her way back to Britain.

German authorities are determining whether the man will be extradited, or whether he would be pressed on charges of child abuse there, Brockert said.

Mason said that British police were ''looking at bringing him back to this country.''

Earlier Wednesday, Shevaun's mother said she was ''relieved'' her daughter was still with Studabaker, who police say befriended the schoolgirl via the Internet.

''I'm actually quite relieved that he's still with her in a way because he's obviously helping to look after her. As long as she comes back, she can even come back with him, I'm not bothered,'' the mother told Sky News TV.

Mason said Shevaun believed she was in a relationship with Studabaker.

''It is a relationship that has developed over a number of months, starting off on Internet chat lines and progressing through to e-mails and personal letters.''

Studabaker, of Constantine, Mich., joined the Marines in 2000 and served in an anti-terrorism unit in Afghanistan, said Sgt. Spencer Harris, a spokesman for Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He was discharged on June 30, Harris said.

[Theresa]

[Tim McGraw]

[Jeff Miller]

well according to him he didn't know the girl was 12 she lied about her age

[IntrepidIsMe]

[harrykims#1fan]

the storys been broadcast all over britain along with the dangers of internet chatrooms...its wrong that a guy would do that to a 12 year old girl

[Seven of Nine]

I've had it drilled into me since I was 10. I give out more details now I'm older, and have met with people on the net, but I wouldn't meet up with someone more than double my age (unless I already knew them in real life, of course).