Police appeal after girl approached in Brierfield garden

Around 7-45 p.m. on Saturday, May 19th, an eight-year-old girl was playing in her front garden in Edge End Lane when a man approached her. He began talking to her over the wall and asked her to leave the garden and follow him.

The little girl refused and ran inside her house and the man walked away.

Det. Sgt Nikki Bithell of Burnley CID said: “Although she was unharmed, this was a distressing experience for the young girl and I am very keen to speak to this man.

“I would also like to speak with anyone who might recognise the description of the man and I would urge anyone that might have experienced any similarly suspicious activity to contact us.”

The man has been described as of Asian heritage with a beard. At the time he was wearing a prayer cap which was orange, red and white and similarly coloured traditional Asian clothes.

Anyone with any information is asked to call police on the new non-emergency number 101 or, alternatively, information can be passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or on-line at Crimestoppers-uk.org.