Police reassure parents after witness reports ‘kidnap’

Notts Police got a report from a young girl who said she saw a child, aged around three, being place in the back of a red vehicle outside the One Stop Shop in Edinburgh Road at around 10.25am.

She said a black man with short black curly hair got out of the vehicle and took hold of the girl, who had been with a woman a short time before.

He placed the child in the back before driving off and turning right onto Pelham Street.

At this time no one has come forward to police to report a missing child.

The girl is described as being around three years old, with brown hair in a bob style, wearing a knee length red dress which had butterflies and hearts around the bottom of the dress.

The woman the girl was with was white, around 30-years-old, with long brown hair tied in a pony tail, wearing a pink top and white shorts.

The man inside the vehicle was wearing a white short sleeve top and black jeans.

Detective Inspector Dave Sinclair, who is leading the enquiry, said he is keen to reassure parents and carers who have been voicing their concerns on various social media websites.

He said: “The community is understandably concerned about this report and there has been a considerable amount of speculation between residents on social network sites.

“There was an incident on Pelham Street in Worksop on Thursday afternoon where two 11-year-old girls reported a man had tried to entice them into a red coloured van.”

“An appeal was made to the public in relation to this incident via the media, high visibility patrols and alerts through schools.”

“This has obviously raised awareness and residents are quite rightly reporting incidents to us.”

“These matters are being investigated but I want to appeal to the community to rely upon the information provided by the police and not to become alarmed by some of the inaccurate reports circulating on the internet.”

“I would like to talk to anyone who visited the Edinburgh Road shops between 10am and 10.30am on Saturday.”

“Similarly, if you visited the shops in a red coloured vehicle at this time I need to talk to you.”

“There may be a completely innocent explanation to this child being driven away – the man may be a parent, a carer or relation, but until this is established a team of detectives will be following all avenues of enquiry.”

Anyone with information should contact Nottinghamshire Police on 0300 300 99 99 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.