Four men have been arrested following an alleged ‘attempted abduction’ of five young girls in Gilberdyke, East Yorkshire. According to reports, two incidents occurred where the men approached the girls.
A courageous passerby intervened during one incident outside a village shop, helping two nine-year-old girls to safety after the men allegedly approached them. The incidents reportedly occurred around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26, in the Scalby Lane area.
Humberside Police provided details, stating, “We were called with reports that men in a vehicle had approached three young girls and asked them to get in the vehicle. One of the girls called her parents, who came to collect the children. We then had a further call from a different person reporting that a group of men had been behaving suspiciously towards two nine-year-old girls outside a shop. A passerby intervened, and the girls were able to leave safely.”
Following swift action by detectives, four men aged 39, 39, 31, and 30 were arrested on suspicion of attempted child abduction shortly after the incidents. They were subsequently released on conditional bail, with one of the 39-year-old men also arrested on suspicion of assault in a separate incident.
Detective Inspector Samantha Chester reassured the community, stating, “I understand incidents of this nature will cause alarm amongst the local community, and I would like to offer my reassurance that we always treat this type of report incredibly seriously. I’d like to thank the member of the public who intervened when they spotted the men acting suspiciously towards the girls, allowing them to leave the area safely on their bikes as well as the parents who called it in to us.”
She further appealed for cooperation from the public, urging anyone with relevant information or footage from the area around the time of the incidents to contact Humberside Police on their non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference 24*89645.
