A FATHER-of-five who sparked a nationwide police search by running away to Blackpool with a 14-year-old girl was jailed for three-and-a-half years yesterday.

David Milner, 46, of Victoria Street, Gillingham, Kent, and the teenager, travelled the length of the country, taking in a visit to Blackpool for the illuminations switch-on before eventually being found.

They often signed in to hotels and bed-and-breakfast accommodation claiming to be newlyweds.

They visited Bristol, Lake Windermere and Aberdeen before eventually being found sleeping a car in a Scottish lay-by.

And Milner, who described the child as his 'toy-girl,' spent two nights at a hotel in the resort last August.

Maidstone Crown Court found that Milner had formed a relationship with the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after her mother, who he had met through work, turned down his advances.

The court heard that Milner and the teenager had 'sexual contact' for around six months before her mother discovered what was going on through a text message from a friend of her daughter.

The mother and daughter then rowed, leading to the runaways setting off on their escapade.

Milner had pleaded guilty to one count of abduction, five counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and five counts of indecency with a child under the age of 16 during an earlier hearing at the court last month.

Sentencing him last Wednesday, Mr Justice Owen told Milner, who had his head bowed for most of the hearing: "She willingly ran away with you but you had manipulated her adolescent emotions, playing upon the infatuation you had fostered.