Paul Sweet

A mother yesterday told of a "Madeleine McCann moment" when she saw a car thief drive off with her baby girl in the back.

She told police: "I couldn't get Madeleine out of my head. Was the person who took her a paedophile? I thought I'd never see her again."

The woman, who can't be named, had left the baby in a BMW with the engine on as she ran to collect her older daughter from a nursery last December.

Serial car thief Paul Sweet then leapt in, failing to spot the one year old.

Cardiff crown court heard the car was found shortly afterwards. The girl was unharmed.

Sweet, of Cardiff, was jailed for 34 months for child abduction and other offences.