Parents on alert after reports of four attempts at child abduction

PARENTS in Bromley are on alert after it emerged that four attempts to snatch children had been made within a week.

Police increased their presence in the London borough after learning of reports of children being followed. The Met said two boys were approached separately by a man on April 30 between 4pm and 4.30pm. One, aged 11, was asked if he wanted a lift by a man in a black van on Whitmore Road, Beckenham, while a boy of eight was approached nearby in Kelsey Park.

The Met received another report on Thursday of a schoolboy being followed by a man the previous day.

Earlier in the week, a mother wrote on social media: “Two hooded men on foot and another in a car attempted to abduct my son on his way home from school. They chased him into the park but he ran into the basketball courts for two older teenagers for help. The men then disappeared. Our son may be shaken up but he is safe at home with us.”

The latest incident involved a “perceived” attempted abduction of a young girl at the Glade shopping centre on Friday, when one of two men said to have been walking behind her tried to grab her hand. The Met said the incidents were not thought to be linked.

Supt Andy Brittain said: “I would encourage the public to remain vigilant, but not to be unduly alarmed. Child kidnappings or abductions are, thankfully, incredibly rare, but we are not complacent.” No children were abducted or harmed in any of the reported incidents, he added.