A six-year-old and her fouryear-old friend were playing close to their homes at Cherry Park, Swords, Co Dublin, last November when a man approached them. He led them to the side of an abandoned house where he subjected them to what gardai describe as "a very serious sexual assault".

A female passer-by inadvertently disturbed the man, who fled the area in a car. The incident happened the day before mother of two Baiba Saulite was murdered in her Swords home on 18 November.

Gardai launched a major manhunt to find the paedophile. The girls described him as being unshaven and wearing a pin-striped suit, white shirt and black shoes.

A grainy image of the man was caught on CCTV on the road where the attack happened. He was filmed taking one of the girls by the hand and appears minutes later after carrying out the abuse.