Dramatic footage shows kidnapped girl, 8, being rescued by police in Texas

Ellena Cruse20 November 2019
WEST END FINAL

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Dramatic bodycam footage shows armed police rescuing a girl in the US who had been kidnapped and hidden in a hotel.

The eight-year-old was snatched as she walked down the street with her mother in Fort Worth, in Texas, on May 18.

Police managed to track down her abductor Michael Webb, 51, to WoodSprings Suites hotel 24 hours after the girl was first taken.

Bodycam footage taken by the officers at the scene shows police bursting into a hotel room and arresting Webb.

Michael Webb has been jailed
AP

The girl, who is not named because she is a minor and a sexual assault victim, then emerges from a laundry basket and an officer carries her out of the building.

A police officer can then be heard saying: " Here she is. Got her, we got her, we got her here."

Webb later admitted that he told the girl to stay hidden in the laundry basket, threatening to hurt her and her family if she refused.

Police said the girl's mother had been unable to fight Webb off as he grabbed her child and put her in his car on May 18.

She called for help and police went searching for the primary school pupil.

An earlier tip-off led police to the hotel but officers could not find the child on the first visit and left.

Officers from the Fort Worth police department went to the same hotel following another tip-off, and eventually arrested Webb.

He was charged with kidnapping and sexual assault and was convicted in September.

He was sentenced to life in prison on November 14.

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