A 24-year-old man has been arrested in Brighton after police have been investigating the attempted abduction of an eight-year-old. The young girl was walking along Tidy Street in Central Brighton at around 8:25am on Saturday morning (5th May) after going to the post box on her own to post a letter.
The girl did not need hospital treatment after the attack but was left extremely shocked with minor grazes. According to Sussex Police, he followed the girl for a short period of time as she walked home. As the girl turned the corner from Gloucester Road into Tidy Street, the accused ran up and tried to grab her but failed and instead pushed her to the ground. The attempted abduction was seen by two-passersby who shouted at him as he ran away towards Trafalgar Street.
The police are still looking for witnesses to the attack. They have already released a CCTV snapshot of the accused but around an hour ago the police directly appealed to three people who may have witnessed what happened. Sussex Police have described them as “a woman wearing a black top and bottoms and wearing sun glasses who was walking along Tidy Street just moments before the incident.”
“The other two are a woman in a grey and white top and purple trousers who was walking a dog on the pavement and a man with long brown hair who was wearing a rucksack who was walking in the road in Tidy Street. They were walking behind the victim.”
If you were in the North Laine area early on Saturday morning and saw anything related to the event, or have any other information, contact 101 or go online to the police’s ‘Response to Appeal’ page quoting Operation Overdown.
The man was described as white, aged in his twenties, between 5ft 6in and 5ft 8in, slim with dark hair and was wearing jeans and a beige jacket. He appears to be holding a bottle in the CCTV image.
In the initial statement made after reports came in, Detective Inspector Lee Horner said “the motive for the attack is not clear and we are not currently linking this matter to any other incidents. It was a very frightening experience for the young girl.”
The man remains in custody on suspicion of attempted abduction. We will report more on this case as it unravels.
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