Attempted abduction of girl, 3, in Wolverhampton

Detectives have released a CCTV image of a man after the attempted abduction of a three-year-old girl in Wolverhampton.

West Midlands Police received reports that a man tried to pick up and take the young girl while she was outside a house in Leicester Street at around 17:15 GMT on Thursday.

He was stopped by the child’s mother and is then understood to have left in the direction of Harrow Street.

Officers said they have identified a person of interest who is believed to be mixed race, aged in their 20s to 30s and had brown eyes which showed signs of reddening.

The man had short curly dark hair, facial hair and was about 5ft 9ins (175cm) tall.

“We know how concerning this will be, and we’ve got local officers out in the neighbourhood to offer reassurance,” the force said.

“However, this is being treated as an isolated incident at this stage.”

Det Insp Nicola Pestel at Wolverhampton CID, said: “We understand that this will be a shock for people, and our investigation to trace and detain the person involved is moving at pace.”

The officer appealed for anyone with information to come forward and for people to check footage from doorbell cameras and vehicle dashcams to see if it can help inquiries.