Attempted Child abduction.

[the-e-dealer]

Heber have just sent a text saying there was a 6 year old child abduction attempt today and do we want our child escorted home.

Very little info. No Idea if person was caught or where it happened!

[Toby]

My text said a year 6 child, either way scary.

[MummaB]

Just got that too....makes me feel sick!

It says it was a Year 6 child btw.

[saleem]

Were the would-be abductors apprehended?

[the-e-dealer]

I can see they had to send out a message. It doesn't say enough also whether the message was from the Police- and who would want their child going home on their own tonight? ! I Imagine their switchboard has gone 'ballistic' . Mine goes to After School club so in this case I am lucky. I guess all kids could go there until they are picked up. This is maybe one case when it would be good if kids had mobiles. Im anti them usually.

[Tanza]

I got this text. It said it was an attempted abduction of a year 6 child from a local school.

[the-e-dealer]

Text was as follows.

this morning a man tried to abduct a yr 6 child on his way to a local school. if you dont want your child to go home on their own please contact the school.

We know nothing else. Could be a kidnap attempt, estranged father or what we all probably assumed some kind of child abuser.

[saleem]

Fathers4Justice?

[the-e-dealer]

Thing is with such little info we don't know what the risk is How long the risk is going to be there for etc. Maybe That's all the School knows. But it is frightening. Should all kids be Grounded? will the Local Parks be quiet at the weekend?

[the-e-dealer]

There's nothing on the web. I can't believe there hasn't been a press release.

[Dorothy]

I don't know if the child was a Heber pupil or not? but a year ago to the very day, there was a similar incident with a year 6 pupil from Goodrich school. There was also an incident at one of the Village schools in 2009.

[the-e-dealer]

Have some wires got crossed?

[Katy Tonbridge]

Please let's not speculate about a reported incident where we have no detail. What is an attempted "abduction"? That word conjures up violent images, but I wouldn't be surprised if the actual incident was nothing like that at all. Who reported the incident? Who witnessed it?

I'm not saying that the incident was acceptable, but as it stands the community might be getting whipped up into a panic when there is no way of knowing if there is anything for your own child to worry about or not.

[the-e-dealer]

my point entirely :-)

[WoolWitch]

According to the head at Heber, it wasn't a Heber child. It was a child on his way to Eliot Bank in Sydenham who was offered a lift by a man in a car, who used the bus strike as a reason for offering the lift. It happened on Sydenham Hill, and the boy refused the lift and reported the incident to the school.

[Katy Tonbridge]

In which case, I would say labelling it as an "Attempted Abduction" was unnecessary scaremongering (however dodgy the person offering the lift might have been). I would suggest that it is just as safe to let your Year 6 child walk to school in East Dulwich next Monday as it was yesterday, or ten years ago. In fact, it's probably safer. And remember children, if a stranger offers you a lift, always say no - just like my mother told me.

[Husker]

"This morning, a man tried to abduct a yr 6 child on his way to a local school" - that was a message sent to parents from a school. Seems like a pretty clear warning rather than "unnecessary scaremongering" to me.

[the-e-dealer]

He might have really offering a lift.

[Katy Tonbridge]

Alternatively: "This morning, a man offered a lift to a child on his way to school, as the buses were on strike. The child said no, which was very sensible as you should NEVER accept a lift from strangers. The incident took place in another part of south London." Put this way, I hardly think it was necessary to send texts to every parent of the school.

[Husker]

Well, when I was in the playground this afternoon EVERY parent I spoke to thought it was very responsible of the school to send the text and are pleased with this sort of information distribution the school now has.

[kristymac1]

seems Heber cant do right for doing wrong - if they hadn't sent out the text having had the information and another incident occurred, folk would have been up in arms. As a receiver of the text myself it was very alarming and even if the details point to a 'lesser' incident, I'd rather have the text than not. Whatever the real details of the incident, the yound lad did exactly the right thing, refusing the lift and reporting it to his school - his school saw (rightly IMO) that they had a responsibility to share the information with other local schools (sydenham is very local, hardly 'another part of South London' which implies much further afield than SE26...).

[the-e-dealer]

I think the school were right and we could and probably will on here argue about the wording till the cows get back from m and s

[uncleglen]

There is a world of difference between a year 6 child and a 6 year old child (no-one would let the latter go to school on their own I would hope)

[simonethebeaver]

Another part of London! Eliot Bank is five minutes from the Horniman, and my stepson walks there from East Dulwich. So pretty close. As far as I know though, no texts from Eliot Bank.

[Marmora Man]

Katy Tonbridge Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Alternatively: "This morning, a man offered a lift

> to a child on his way to school, as the buses were

> on strike. The child said no, which was very

> sensible as you should NEVER accept a lift from

> strangers. The incident took place in another

> part of south London." Put this way, I hardly

> think it was necessary to send texts to every

> parent of the school.

Katy T - your interpretation seems very sensible and balanced. I agree with you entirely.