Robert Frid handed extra jail time for Bracknell child kidnapping

Robert Frid pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and indecent assault of a three-year-old girl in 1986

A serial child abuser has been jailed for 10 years after one of his victims helped link him to an earlier crime.

Robert Frid, 78, is already serving 12 years in prison for offences against children, including attempted rape.

After pleading guilty to these charges in September 2021, his DNA was uploaded to the police database.

Officers investigating the kidnapping and indecent assault of a three-year-old girl in 1986 then found Frid was a match for their case.

He pleaded guilty at Reading Crown Court to taking the child from outside her home in Great Hollands, Bracknell, Berkshire, nearly 40 years ago.

The court heard Frid, who was 41 at the time, subjected her to a "horrendous" sex attack inside his VW camper van, before dropping her off with money to buy sweets.

Frid's victim, now 40, was kidnapped from outside her home in Bracknell in 1986

As a victim of sexual abuse she is entitled to life-long anonymity, so the BBC has changed her name to Melissa.

She told the court: "A child's only memories should be happy ones.

"My earliest childhood memory is one of Robert Frid kidnapping me and sexually abusing me - a video of it replays in my head every single day."

The 1986 case file of her attack contained details of the fibres, hairs and other samples found on her clothing, as well as hand-drawn pictures and notes.

DNA profiling was still in it's infancy at the time, but in 2008 Thames Valley Police's Major Crime Review Team took another look at the case.

For the next 13 years they ran DNA they had extracted from old evidence through the National DNA database - until a match came back in 2021.

DNA profiling was still in its infancy after the attack, but the physical evidence was preserved

The match came after Hampshire Constabulary's investigation into allegations made by 13-year-old Lucy, whose name has also been changed.

She came forward in 2020 to report that Frid, who lived in Farnborough, Hampshire, at the time, had sexually abused her over a period of 10 years.

She told the BBC: "When you're younger, you don't feel like there's any need to tell anyone, because it's normal. A lot of my memories are blurred from that point.

"What he's done to me is worse than anything that you could imagine."

Frid is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence and will now serve an additional 10 years

Hampshire police also found another girl who had been sexually abused by Frid over a similar period of time to Lucy.

Frid's sentencing for these attacks led to Thames Valleys cold case investigators finding his DNA was a match with Melissa's kidnapping case.

He said: "Had it not been for the courage of the other victims coming forward to report these historical offences, we would still be searching."

Frid pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting Melissa in 1986 and was jailed for another 10 years.

During the sentencing, Judge Burgess KC told Frid: "The reality is you will never see the light of day."

Speaking afterwards, Melissa and Lucy said they wanted to "give hope" to other survivors of sexual offences.