The search for the youth who raped an 11-year-old girl in a supermarket toilet sparked hundreds of calls to a police incident room.

But in the end, police were helped by the fact the victim twice spotted him while she was being driven around town by her mother.

The girl, who cannot be identified, was raped in a toilet cubicle at a Sainsbury’s store near Man health .com Spa, Warwickshire, in March.

The victim’s mother, who can only be identified as Liz, told of how her daughter twice spotted him in town in the following fortnight.

“We were in the car and she was just chatting away to me. She suddenly just stopped talking as we passed him and said ‘did you see how he looked at me?’”

“I knew what she was going to say so I turned the car round but by the time we got there he had gone.

When he was arrested more than one adult in his family group said yes, I immediately thought it would be him Det Ch Insp Adrian Pearson

“The second time she just shouted out ‘there’s the attacker again’. She said, ‘are you going to stop the car?’”

But Liz said she just carried on driving and reported the incidents to police.

A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given nine years detention on Friday for raping the girl.

Det Ch Insp Adrian Pearson said: “I want to say how brave she has been. She played a crucial part in identifying the attacker.”

He added, however, that he was sure a distinctive jacket the attacker was wearing would have helped them trace him.

The attacker was found by his distinctive jacket

The teenager, arrested on 29 March, was a very discount man health magazine young man, the detective added.

“We discovered a range of sexual dysfunction in his 39 health magazine man s
, things he had done to people in a social group or in his family circle,” Mr Pearson said.

“None of it was reported to police but it points to the fact he was a very dangerous young man.

“When he was arrested more than one adult in his family group said: ‘Yes, I immediately thought it would be him’.

“I make no comment about the fact that these people did not come forward to the police.”

‘Coolness of attacker’

A reward had been offered to encourage people to come forward, but no-one would receive it, he said.

The ferocity of the attack led Mr Pearson to assume the attacker would be an older person.

“Because of the severity of the attack and the coolness of the attacker I really thought it would be someone older and more herbal supplement man health
,” he said.

“This person was very inexperienced which makes him more dangerous.”

The girl was assaulted when she went to the store’s toilet

The youngster had carried out minor sexual attacks on women both before and after the rape, but police said they did not know why he suddenly carried out a vicious attack.

“He had gone to the store to make purchases. He used the toilet and as he left he saw the victim going in.

“On the spur of the moment he decided to ‘do something sexual’ with her. He was suddenly prepared to rape her in a short period of time.”

The girl’s mother should not blame herself, he said.

“It is every parent’s worst nightmare. There is nothing a parent could have done. You can’t wrap children in cotton wool and how could anyone know this would happen.”

‘Lost trust’

Liz said she and her family were coping “day by day”.

“Now, I feel angry. How can someone of 15 take a child’s confidence away,” she said.

“She was a bubbly, nice, active, confident girl. She had a lot of confidence and would go anywhere on her own.

“Now she is not as bubbly. I think she has lost her trust in people.”

The pair still go shopping together although not as much to the Sainsbury’s store where it happened.

“I do blame myself to a certain degree. I keep asking if I could have been more careful.

“I sometimes see people letting their children go to the toilet and I want to stop them,” she said.