Witness appeal after man takes hold of boy, eight

We’re appealing for witnesses and dashcam footage after a report that a man tried to take an eight-year-old boy from a Yeovil street.

The boy was walking to school with his mother and another child in a pushchair on Monday 6 March.

Just before 8.30am a car pulled up alongside them in Cedar Grove. A man got out of the driver’s seat and tried to pull the boy away from his mother. She held on to the child and began shouting and the man made off in the car towards Preston Road.

The woman described the man as being aged 30 to 40, about 5ft 8ins tall and of medium build with broad shoulders. He had olive brown skin, dark-coloured hair in a quiff style and a beard. The car was a dirty white estate with tinted rear windows.

Officers have carried out house-to-house and CCTV enquiries and are in touch with the boy’s school, while reassurance patrols have been carried out. No further incidents have been reported, but please do contact your neighbourhood officers with any concerns.

If you were in the area at the time and saw the incident or have dashcam footage, we want to hear from you.