A manhunt is under way in Lancashire after a six-year-old girl was abducted from a street in Burnley and then abandoned several miles away.
The girl, who has not been named, was riding her bike in Nairne Street when she was picked up by a man in a car and dropped off 3.5 miles (5.5km) away 20 minutes later.
She was discovered in a distressed state on Whitefield Street in Hapton by a member of the public, who phoned the police.
The girl told officers she didn’t know her abductor, but a passerby saw her at around 4.10pm on Thursday talking to a man they described as white and in his 40s, with a bald head and tanned complexion. The car was large and dark, Lancashire police said.
The victim had long dark hair, worn in a “half ponytail”, and was wearing pink leggings, a pink hoodie and silver shoes with white socks. Her bike, which was left at Nairne Street, was pink and black.
An urgent search for the offender had been launched, and specially trained officers were offering support to the girl and her family.
Detectives were scouring CCTV to see which route the car took as it travelled east to Hapton – the driver could have taken the M65 motorway or gone along the A679 Accrington Road, or used more minor roads.
DCI Joanne McHugh, from East CID, said police were treating it as an isolated incident. “Child abduction by a stranger is a very serious crime, but thankfully very rare. We don’t think this is part of a pattern,” she said in an interview.
The girl’s mother had just rung police to report her daughter missing when she was found in Hepton, McHugh said: “Fortunately we were then able to quickly reunite them.”
Asked whether the girl had been hurt, the detective said she had no signs of injury and it was too early to tell if she had been sexually assaulted.
“This investigation is very much in its early stages and we are determined to find out exactly what has happened to this young child and to catch the man who has done this.
“We have a team of detectives who are on with various lines of inquiry and will be speaking to people in the area, as well as looking for possible CCTV footage and forensic evidence. We will also be speaking to the victim today.
“I would like to reassure the public that while incidents of this kind are rare, we have stepped up police patrols in the area.
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“I urge anyone who may have seen this vehicle, anything suspicious in the time leading up to the incident or indeed anyone with information about this incident to contact the police urgently.”
People can contact Lancashire police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
