A mother in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, was left alarmed and horrified when a man of “possible Middle Eastern origin” approached her as she walked her young daughter to school and attempted to “buy” her.
The incident in the multicultural city took place on the morning of December 1st, with the male — one of a group of three, it is believed — described as looking like he was in his late thirties or early forties and wearing a grey hooded top and dirty navy bottoms, with his face partly obscured by a head warmer.
“At approximately 8.20 a.m. on December 1st, a local resident was walking her daughter to Lower Meadow School along Batemoor Road. A male, of possible Middle Eastern origin, along with two other males, have approached the mother, taken out a large amount of money and offered to buy the daughter,” relayed Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Kenneth Blake on behalf of South Yorkshire Police, in comments reported by the BBC.
“The mother has refused and ran towards the school with her daughter. The mother then heard a screech of car tyres and a black/ blue vehicle has made off towards Dyche Lane, with the three males inside,” Blake continued, lamenting that “Unfortunately no number was got for the vehicle.”
“Any further sightings of the suspected male should be reported to South Yorkshire Police as soon as possible, allowing officers to attend,” he urged.
The shocking incident follows similar events in Doncaster, another urban centre in South Yorkshire, earlier in November, when another woman was followed through a Primark store in the city centre and offered a “good price” for her daughter.
South Yorkshire Police — who initially denied they had received reports of the incident — later announced an investigation, saying that “It was reported that on the 12th of November at around 4 p.m., a woman and young girl were in Primark where they believed they were being followed by a group of men” and that “The men made them feel uncomfortable and allegedly made inappropriate comments towards the young girl.”
While the police offered no descriptions of the suspects beyond referencing their sex, the mother of the girl said in a social media post quoted by local media that they were “Four foreign men”.
“[They] surrounded us in the women’s clothes section so I asked what they was doing and why they kept following us!” she recalled.
“They said she is such a beautiful girl – good price.
“Never have I felt so sick to my stomach !!! PLEASE keep an eye out!!” she warned.
Yorkshire has been exposed a hotbed of so-called grooming gang activity in recent years, with a large number of mostly-South Asian background men raping and pimping mostly white working-class girls and young women in locations including Huddersfield, Rochdale, and Rotherham, with police and social services repeatedly failing to intervene even when they were aware of the abuse.
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