Be vigilant - that's the message from police after an attempted abduction of an eight-year-old girl in Harold Hill.

The attempted kidnap in Farnham Road was the latest in a string of similar incidents. Police are appealing for witnesses.

The young girl was out shopping with her 14-year-old sister when the menace struck, on December 29.

The man approached her outside the Co-op, at about 4.05pm.

He walked up to her and put his left arm around her shoulder, grabbed her clothing and tried to push her towards a nearby parked car with another man in it. Police said nothing was said and she managed to break free and run off.

The shocked girl saw the man get into the car and he poked his tongue out at her and she ran to get her sister.

Sgt Mick Adamson from Harold Hill Police said: "I do not want to frighten people but obviously people need to be aware. We need people to come forward because it would have been a really busy time.

''If anyone saw a man acting suspiciously they should ring the Romford crime desk. The vehicle may have been parked in the centre of the road and we are checking the CCTV.

''This behaviour is not acceptable. Parents need to be vigilant."

The car is described as a red three-door estate, possibly an Escort, with rust on the headlights and bonnet.

The man was white and wore a dark woollen hat.

On October 2 a man tried to seize an 11-year-old girl as she walked to a bus stop in Heaton Avenue.

The girl managed to break free after he grabbed her arm and she got away. It happened at 7.45am. The man was tall, thin and in his 40s .

Earlier in September police began a hunt for a serial sex pest who they believed to be responsible for three terrifying assaults on local school children.

Around 5.30pm on September 24, a seven-year-old girl was walking in Wrexham Road when a man in a car stopped, opened the door and made indecent suggestions.

A week earlier on September 16 the man approached four teenagers in two separate incidents.

Two 13-year-old girls were accosted on The Manor during their school lunch break and later that evening a 12-year-old girl and her 14-year-old sister were stopped in Central Park by the man who indecently exposed himself and committed an indecent act.

But Sgt Adamson said: "There is no evidence that there's any connection with the recent attempted abduction and these other incidents.

''But we do need to make parents aware that this type of behaviour does happen from time to time."

Anyone with any information should call PC Mark Pickard at Romford CID on 01708 751212.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.