SYDNEY, Jan 24 (Reuters) - An Australian man pleaded guilty on...

SYDNEY, Jan 24 (Reuters) - An Australian man pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of abducting a 4-year-old girl from an outback campsite, the Western Australia justice department said, speeding up the resolution of a case that shocked the country.

Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, pleaded guilty to a charge of forcibly taking a child under 16 during a court appearance via video link from a maximum-security prison in Perth, a department spokesman told Reuters.

He was charged in November with kidnapping Cleo Smith after she went missing in the middle of the night during a family camping trip at the remote Blowholes Shacks campsite in Macleod, about 900 km (560 miles) north of Perth.

He was accused of holding the child for 18 days until police rescued her, apparently unharmed, from his locked house at Carnavon, 100km away. Media reports said Kelly's home was a few streets from the house where the child lived with her family.

The guilty plea spares Cleo's family the prospect of a lengthy trial, which might have required them to testify or otherwise relive the ordeal under intense public scrutiny.

Her parents have not made any public comment other than a statement saying they were happy when she was found. Prosecutors have not disclosed a motive.

Free-to-air broadcaster Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (NEC) signed a deal to pay Cleo's parents A$2 million ($1.4 million) for an exclusive interview, an Australian record, News Corp broadsheet The Australian reported.

Kelly still faces other charges, including assaulting a police officer, for which he has not entered a plea.

He will remain in custody, as he has been since November, until a hearing on March 25 when the court will fix a sentencing date, the justice department said.

Kelly also faces a hearing on Feb. 28 over the assault charge, and another hearing on May 2 for a charge that the court has said cannot be disclosed.

($1 = 1.3930 Australian dollars)