Urgent hunt for ‘man with red eyes’ who ‘tried to pick up & run away with 3-year-old girl before her mum stopped him’

AN URGENT hunt is underway for a “man with red eyes” who “tried to pick up and run away with a three-year-old girl before her mum stopped him”.

The attempted abduction took place in Wolverhampton on Thursday evening at around 5.15pm.

West Midlands Police said the little girl had been outside a house on Leicester Street with an older relative when the man attempted to make off with her.

However, the child’s mother managed to intervene before taking her away in the direction of Harrow Street.

The child was not injured and officers are providing support to her and her family.

The spokesperson added that CCTV is being retrieved from the surrounding area – and house-to-house enquiries are taking place to find possible witnesses.

The suspect is believed to be mixed race, around 5ft 9ins tall in height and aged in their 20s to 30s.

He has short curly dark hair, facial hair and brown eyes – which reportedly showed signs of reddening.

The force acknowledged that people would be concerned by the incident – and reassured the local community that there would be a heightened police presence over the coming days.

However, they said the incident was being treated as isolated at this stage.

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

“We’d ask everyone in the area to support us by coming forward with any information they may have, to check doorbell cameras or dashcams in their cars, for any footage which may assist our enquiries.”

Anyone with information, is asked to please get in touch with West Midlands Police via 101, or Live Chat, quoting log 3766 of 9 January.