A JUDGE told a sobbing teenager yesterday that he had committed acts of "evil wickedness".

And a top Gwent detective with 29 years service said after the Cardiff crown court hearing that the attack was one of the worst he has ever seen.

The 16-year-old boy had been convicted of kidnapping a six-year-old girl and attempting to rape and murder her.

He dragged the girl into woodland in Newport and left her in a shallow grave after he tried to asphyxiate her by stamping or standing on her neck around the area of her windpipe, the court was told.

Judge John Griffith Williams sentenced the boy to life imprisonment, ordered him to register as a sex offender for life and said he would not be considered by the parole board until he had served at least four and a half years.

The judge yesterday told the boy, who recently had his 16th birthday and who cannot be named for legal reasons, that he had shown "clever cunning" in trying to avoid blame.

After carrying out the attack, the youth covered the girl with earth and leaves.

Greg Treverton-Jones, defending, said this and the attempted murder had been "a panicked response to a sexual assault".

He said the boy had previously shown no signs of having a deep-seated problem and said he was ordinarily "polite, kind and gentle and from a loving home".

Mark Evans QC, prosecuting, previously told the court how the attack happened on June 4 this year - when many children were off school and playing in an extended weekend due to the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Mr Evans said: "She was forcibly taken by this defendant down through the woods. She ended up in the densest part of the woodland.

"After he had taken her into the woodland he tried to strangle her first of all by putting both hands round her neck and when she was on the floor he either stamped or stood on her neck around the windpipe.

"She sustained injuries to her face and body. The whole of her body was scratched and stung by being dragged through the brambles, nettles and undergrowth."

The court heard the girl was partially-clothed when she was found , covered in mud and blood and unrecognisable to her family.

A search was mounted for the girl.

Mr Evans said: "Eventually some noises were heard. She began to cry and eventually she began to scream for her mother.

"She may well have lost consciousness at some stage. When she was found she was in a dreadful state.

"They thought they had found a different child because she was unrecognisable.

"She was covered in blood and earth. He had made an attempt to cover her body with leaves and earth.

"The inevitable inference is that he thought he had in fact killed her. She was limp and incoherent."

He said the girl clearly identified the teenager as her assailant and he was arrested.

After the sentence was passed, Detective Inspector Andy Watts said: "The life sentence reflects the serious nature of the offence.

"The boy is a dangerous young man and will continue to be a dangerous young man and a danger to young girls.

"This will be with the girl for the rest of her life.

"I have some feelings for the family of the boy but my feelings at the moment are with the girl and her family.

"It is one of the most serious assaults on a child I have ever seen in my 29 years service."

* In the picture: The woodland near newport where the attack took place.