Silence on streets of Burnley where girl (6) abducted

There’s an eerie silence around the area of Burnley where a six-year-old girl was abducted by a man on Thursday afternoon.
Nairne StreetNairne Street
Nairne Street

There are no children playing in the streets around Coal Clough and Nairne Street, Burnley, where the man struck after the little girl became separated from her elder brother. The man bundled her into the boot of his car before driving off with her. He later abandoned her in a back street in Hapton.

The girl’s nine-year-old brother, who had been playing with her minutes before she disappeared, said everyone is frightened of going out to play and the children’s mum said: “Normally in the school holidays there are children playing out around here.”

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But, she said, parents had been afraid to let their children out until they were sure the man responsible had been “locked up”.

“A woman has told the police that she had seen the car with the boot open but thought nothing about it,” she added. “It looks like he had been waiting to do this.

“There are usually more children playing out than there were on Thursday but, for a few minutes, my little girl had been left on her own.”

Police, who this morning announced they have arrested a 33-year-old Accrington man in connection with the incident, have been studying CCTV and making house-to-house inquiries in the areas where the girl was snatched and released, in Whitefield Street, Hapton.

“My girl said he tried to shove her into a wheelie bin but she was kicking and screaming and so he just left her and got into his car and drove off.”