Shevaun Pennington was just 12 when she was abducted and sexually violated by US Marine Toby Studabaker – sparking an international manhunt.

Now 17, Shevaun has waived her right to anonymity, and has told the News of the World how she was groomed by the now 36-year-old pervert who promised the troubled youngster friendship, then broke her trust in the most horrific of ways.

It took the former Lowton High School pupil nearly two years to come terms with what happened – she battled bulimia and depression in the wake of Studabaker's arrest – and to learn to accept that she was not to blame.

Shevaun said: "It began as an adventure and for a long time I felt I was to blame. Now I realise what an evil pervert he really is.
"If I ever saw him again I'd shake his hand and thank him for making me the strong resilient person I am today.

"Then I'd turn around and knee him where it truly hurts – so he'd feel what it's like to trust someone and then have it all ripped apart and abused."
Shevaun met Studabaker through an online game.

Studabaker, a widower who served with the American forces in Afghanistan, contacted the youngster and asked he if she wanted to be friends.

The pair started chatting via email and, passing himself off as a friend and confidant, the American gained the lonely 12-year-old's trust.

She said: "I think he should never be released. I was easy prey for him. I was getting bullied at school because of the music I liked. Kids would shout Goth as I walked past. I always felt an outsider.

"I hated school and I hated life at home too. I didn't get on with my parents. We clashed over my loud music, the mess I made and my homework. I was so miserable."

On July 12, 2003, around a year after approaching the youngster and fully aware of her real age, Studabaker, flew from his Michigan home to Manchester.

Telling her mother she was going shopping, Shevaun took a taxi to the airport to meet him and was soon on a flight to Paris with the then 31-year-old.

In a hotel bedroom he suggested they dye their hair, plied the 12-year-old with vodka and had sex with her, all the time telling her he loved her.

The pair moved to Strasbourg where Shevaun saw the TV plea from her parents and, encouraged by Studabaker, called home, and she eventually flew home to Manchester.

Studabaker was arrested on charges of abduction, having sex with a child and possessing child-porn. He spent four-and-a-half years in a British prison and is now serving an 11-year sentence America.

Shevaun now has a new boyfriend and plans to return to college – but says she will never forgive the evil man who stole her childhood.