Manchester police arrest man on suspicion of abduction and sexual assault of a girl who was snatched
A man has been arrested on suspicion of abduction and sexual assault after a six-year-old girl was snatched from the street.
Greater Manchester Police said this morning that a 23-year-old man had been arrested and remains in custody for questioning.
It comes after Tameside Police appealed for help finding the suspect after the young girl was snatched by a man on Warne Avenue, Droylsden, at around 4pm on Wednesday.
She was then led to a wooded area close to a disused railway track towards Manchester Road and allegedly sexually assaulted.
A forensic officer walks along a green where a police tent has been erected at the scene in Warne Avenue, Droylsden
The young girl was safely reunited with her family a short time later and is receiving support from specialist officers, police say.
The arrest of the 23-year-old comes after detectives announced yesterday they would be stepping up the search for another man they wished to ‘speak to urgently’.
Yesterday police issued CCTV footage of a young man in his twenties.
Speaking in Warne Avenue on Thursday, Detective Superintendent Richard Hunt said: ‘What I can say, he’s obviously grabbed a child, and what I would say to members of the public is that they need to be extra vigilant.
‘A child was playing in this area and a chap who was hanging around has taken a child and thankfully within a few minutes we’ve got her back.
‘Parents need to consider the circumstances of what I have mentioned and I would suggest they need to be extra vigilant with their children whilst we progress this as quickly as possible.’
A van inside a police cordon close to a woodland where a six-year-old girl was abducted and sexually assaulted
The van is parked adjacent to a woodland, where police say the six-year-old was taken close to a disused railway track
A blue tent has been erected inside a small grass area where police say the suspect hung around before and after the sexual assault
A police community support officer guards a police cordon where forensic teams were seen searching a van on Thursday
A blue police tent and officer inside a cordon in Warne Avenue, Droylsden, on Thursday following the abduction of a child
The scene in Warne Avenue, Droylsden, where a six-year-old was near a bench which is covered up in the tent
A large van inside a second police cordon was searched by forensic officers at the scene on Thursday
