PAEDOPHILE PETER VOISEY, NORTH TYNESIDE, UNDER SUPERVISION WHEN HE RAPED SIX-YEAR-OLD GIRL

In October 2006, Peter Voisey, a known sex offender from North Tyneside, was convicted of raping a six-year-old girl after abducting her from her bath. Despite being under supervision as a registered sex offender at the time, Voisey entered the girl’s home through the back door, drove away with her, and committed two separate serious sexual assaults during the 15-minute ordeal before abandoning her. A subsequent review will examine how the 35-year-old was monitored following his release from a two-year imprisonment for an indecent assault on a vulnerable 12-year-old at a swimming pool in Macclesfield in 2001.

Judge David Hodson warned Voisey he faced a lengthy jail sentence when he sentenced him on December 1, after the jury at Newcastle Crown Court unanimously found him guilty of counts including abduction, rape, and sexual assault. The judge stated, "You must expect to receive a sentence either of life imprisonment or an indefinite sentence for public protection. The purpose of the adjournment is so that the court can have a proper assessment of the risk you pose to the public at large."

The victim’s family, from North Tyneside, was visibly emotional, sobbing in the public gallery as the trial concluded. Voisey, also known as Smith and residing in Blyth, Northumberland, showed signs of distress, crying and shaking his head behind the glass dock before being remanded in custody.

As a registered sex offender, Voisey was subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa) following his release for the previous Macclesfield offence. A Home Office spokeswoman expressed their sympathies, stating, "We express our sympathy to the victim and her family. This is clearly an appalling offence. A multi-agency internal review of the case is being commissioned by the strategic management board of Mappa."

After the conviction, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Napier, who led the investigation, said he was "satisfied" that Voisey was being properly managed. He added, "The fact he was on the sex offender register made him a priority to interview."

The girl was abducted from her ground-floor flat, and Voisey drove her away in his deteriorated red Vauxhall Astra. Her mother, realizing her daughter was missing, searched frantically and called emergency services. Police received another report from local resident June Brown, whose husband Geoffrey had seen a girl crying in the back lane and found her naked and bleeding. The girl was swabbed, and although the DNA evidence was partial, it matched Voisey. Additionally, a footprint in the flat’s bathroom matched his Diadora trainers.

Phone analysis showed Voisey’s mobile was in North Tyneside at the time of the offence, not at his home. His initial alibi claim of being away from the area and later claim of being in North Tyneside purchasing cannabis were dismissed. The prosecution introduced bad character evidence, including details of Voisey’s previous swimming pool offence.

The court heard he had boasted about groping a woman during a break-in and laid out clothes alongside a sex toy at a burglary scene. Friend Keith French testified that Voisey had expressed a desire to "do something" to a child while passing by a mother with two young children. The jury also learned he wrote in his diary on the day of the abduction: "Phew, it’s over. Chill now."

Outside court, the girl’s parent described the abduction and rape as "every mother’s nightmare," recounting how her daughter was in the bath in her own home shortly before being snatched.

Detective Napier painted a stark picture of Voisey, stating, "There is no doubt that Voisey is a serial sexual predator who preys on young and vulnerable children. He is also a convicted burglar, and the investigation revealed he would regularly break into homes by stealth. It’s my personal view that he was out that night looking for a house to burgle. He was familiar with such flats and saw an opportunity that he took. He was a total stranger to the family, violated their home, kidnapped a little girl to satisfy his own perverted desires, and showed no remorse or guilt."