A dangerous predatory paedophile who cruised Bradford’s streets hunting for young girls to abduct has been locked up indefinitely.

Qamar Malik yesterday became one of the last high-risk criminals to be locked up without limit of time by a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection.

Judge Peter Benson said Malik, a car salesman who preyed on children in his vehicles, posed a significant danger to girls.

Malik, 28, of Parsonage Road, West Bowling, Bradford, was convicted in November of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl and twice attempting to abduct a girl aged 12 off the street.

A jury at Bradford Crown Court found him guilty of all four charges ten days before the option of a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) was abolished.

Malik must spend at least two and a half years behind bars before he can even be considered for parole.

Judge Benson said it was “a disturbing case giving rise to great concern”.

When Malik was 16, he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl walking to school in Bradford and grabbed and groped a woman aged 21 in the street.

He was held in custody after the jury’s verdicts so the probation service could assess how dangerous he is.

The court heard Malik pulled the six-year-old girl into his car on August 13 last year, ten days after the police had warned him he was suspected of trying to lure young girls into his vehicle.

Complaints had been made about him stopping his black Ford Focus next to young girls and telling them they were beautiful.

The six-year-old girl, who had been playing in the street with friends, was found sobbing on the pavement after Malik abducted her.

He made her hide in the passenger footwell as he drove off in central Bradford. She asked to be let out of the car to go to the toilet and then ran away.

“Goodness knows what on earth would have happened to her if she had not had the presence of mind to escape from your clutches,” Judge Benson said.

Malik was then also charged with attempting to lure a 12-year-old girl into his car on two previous occasions, telling her she was beautiful and “getting cuter and cuter” and they should “hang around and chill out together.”

Both the girls were strangers to Malik, the court was told.

In mitigation Malik’s barrister, Robin Frieze, conceded they were “very serious and worrying” offences.

But Malik let the small girl go when she asked to be let out of the car, said Mr Frieze in asking the judge not to jail Malik for an indeterminate period.

After the case, Detective Constable Sharon Cooper, of Bradford CID, said: “This man was predatory in his behaviour and clearly a threat to those who encountered him.

“With the assistance of victims, we were quickly able to remove Malik from our streets. Their courage in working with the police provided key evidence which allowed us to bring this depraved individual to justice.

“I am extremely pleased to see he will now serve a considerable custodial sentence.”