A man has been found guilty of the kidnap and indecent assault of an 11-year-old girl more than 10 years after the offence. James Michael William Evans, 33, of Charterhouse Road, Godalming, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after being convicted at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday. Evans was charged on June 25 last year with kidnap and indecent assault, following an incident on National Trust land at Bunch Lane in Haslemere, on October 18, 1997. The victim recognised Evans as she had seen him a few days earlier when he told her, and friends she was with at the time, that he was looking for his lost dog. The victim was with her six-year-old brother and an 11-year-old male friend, walking along Derby Road, close to the junction of High Lane, when they saw Evans. He told them he still hadn't found the dog and asked her if she would help him look for it. The victim went with Evans along Greensand Way to some National Trust land after it was suggested that her brother and friend look for the dog in another area. After taking her into some woodland in Bunch Lane, Evans threatened to tie the victim up before he sexually assaulted her. After the assault Evans took a photograph and gave the victim some money, threatening to spread it around her school if she told anyone. The girl ran home and told her mother what had happened. Surrey Police immediately launched an investigation which included numerous house-to-house enquiries, interviews with various witnesses, circulation of the offender's description and a Crimewatch appeal but the case remained unsolved. On May 20, 2006, detectives investigating three reported incidents involving indecent behaviour towards young girls in Godalming, arrested Evans as a suspect. While preparing a case file against him, officers noted Evans' likeness to an e-fit from the 1997 offence and detective constable Russell Cannon reopened the 1997 enquiry. After pleading guilty to five offences of sexually touching three girls aged 11, 12 and 14 in December 2006, Evans was arrested in relation to the 1997 offence on January 16, 2007. He was interviewed and later picked out of an identity parade by the victim, now aged 21, and the male friend who was with her when she met him. Using advanced forensic technology, unavailable in 1997, police were also able to match DNA evidence obtained from the victim's clothing to that of Evans. He was charged with kidnap and indecent assault in June 2007. A search of Evans' house subsequently uncovered a number of images of children as well as indecent films. He pleaded guilty to 20 counts of making and downloading indecent images of children in a separate case. Following the 11-day trial detective sergeant Matthew Durkin, of Waverley CID, said: "Firstly, I must pay tribute to the victim in this case, who successfully identified Evans more than 10 years after the offence. She has shown enormous courage and determination in the part she has played in his conviction. "Thanks to her bravery, an excellent piece of police work by officers investigating Evans in 2006, and the advances that have been made in forensic technology over the last 10 years, we have secured his conviction today. "Surrey Police is committed to bringing offenders to justice, and this case demonstrates that we will work to secure a conviction no matter how historic the crime."