A teenager is facing sentence after admitting abducting a 15-year-old girl.

Gareth Melville was said to have been having a relationship with her when he kept her at his home for eight days.

The 18-year-old entered a guilty plea to abducting a child between September 3 and 11 when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court by TV link with Elmley Prison today.

Daniel Cummings, defending, said Melville, who has previous convictions, was “a vulnerable young man himself” and added there was “a broader context” to the offence.

Adjourning sentence for reports until November 11, Judge Charles Macdonald QC said it was “not a trivial matter”.

Melville, of East Street, Sittingbourne, was remanded in custody.