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	A ten-year-old boy has been hailed as a hero after clinging onto a moving SUV to rescue his sister from a convicted sex offender.</p>
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	The criminal, who was on bail for robbery, attempted to abduct the girl (12) on the side of a country road near the village of Cullahill in Laois.</p>
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	She was playing with her two brothers near their home when the man stopped and asked for directions to the local priest&#39;s house.</p>
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	He then jumped from the stolen vehicle and grabbed the girl.</p>
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	But her younger brother lunged through the driver&#39;s window at the would-be kidnapper punching him as the jeep began to drive away.</p>
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	The brave boy distracted the driver long enough so that his sister could jump from the moving vehicle.</p>
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	The father of the children said the family were too shocked to talk about the incident last night but told the Irish Independent that he was &quot;extremely proud&quot; of his 10-year-old son.</p>
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	Garda&iacute; from three counties were involved in a manhunt that was launched after the incident on Wednesday morning and concluded just over 24 hours later with an arrest.</p>
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	The 34-year-old suspect is a convicted child sex offender but is not on the sex offenders list as the offence dates back to the 1990s.</p>
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	He is well-known to garda&iacute;, particularly for robbing priests&#39; houses and church poor boxes and is described as &quot;very volatile and dangerous&quot;. He has a string of convictions and is currently before the courts charged with a number of robbery offences.</p>
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	He was jailed for four years in 2004 after pleading guilty to the abduction of a 14-year-old girl with whom he was said to have been having a relationship at the time.</p>
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	It is believed that on Tuesday evening he stole the Nissan 4x4 SUV he was travelling in from a farmer in the village of Kilmacow in Co Kilkenny.</p>
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	The next morning he turned up in Durrow, Co Laois, where he begged for money at the parochial house.</p>
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	He then travelled on to the village of Cullahill, where he bought diesel at a filling station.</p>
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	Garda&iacute; are also investigating a report that the same man then broke into the local church and stole a collection box.</p>
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	A short time later, around 11am he encountered the three children, who had a day off school.</p>
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	Garda&iacute; launched a major operation which was co-ordinated from Portlaoise by Chief Superintendent John Scanlan of the Laois/Offaly Division.</p>
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	Around 3pm garda&iacute; sent out an alert by the community text system warning parents of the danger.</p>
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	It is understood that officers staked out a church near Castlecomer in Co Kilkenny and they arrested the man shortly before lunchtime yesterday.</p>
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	He was still being held last night in Portlaoise garda station and is expected to appear in court today.</p>
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	Garda&iacute; hope that the three children will be able to help identify the suspect during an identity parade.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/boy-10-hailed-as-hero-after-saving-sister-from-convicted-sex-offender-31045133.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/boy-10-hailed-as-hero-after-saving-sister-from-convicted-sex-offender-31045133.html</a></p>
