A MAN attempted to kidnap a nine-year-old child just yards from her home in Deane.

The primary school pupil was walking home from her friend’s house, along Willows Lane, on Sunday, when the man attempted to grab her bag strap and pull her into a parked car.

The brave child managed to break free from his grasp and run home, but has been left terrified by the attack.

Her 31-year-old mother, who also has three other children, aged five, eight and 14, said her daughter is now “frightened to death”.

She said: “She was walking home from her friend’s house, where she had spent the night and it was broad daylight, at 4.45pm.

“You don’t think someone is going to try and grab your child. She is frightened to death now.

“She keeps having nightmares and can’t sleep.

“I dread to think what these men wanted from her.

“If they had got her in that car I might never have seen her again.”

It is understood that the man, described as foreign, with a shaved head and wearing a yellow top, black suit pants and trainers, was also accompanied by another man who remained in the car, described as a Silver Volvo.

The other man's appearance is unknown.

At the time of attack, the youngster had shouted out ‘he is following me’ before she was grabbed.

Her mother added: “He grabbed her and said to her ‘you are going to have nightmares about me’.

“She is terrified.

“Me and her dad have to sit with her at the park now if she wants to play out and watch.

“We shouldn’t have to do that.

“I used to let my children walk to school on their own, which is only across the road, but I won’t now.

“I just don’t know what they were thinking - it was broad daylight on a busy main road and it wasn’t far at all.

“We live just near a park and if she had walked through that she would have been home in seconds, but we would encourage her to walk along the main road instead of a park where they may be no-one around. You just can’t trust anyone, anywhere, these days.”

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Shortly before 5pm on June 19 we received a report of the attempted abduction of a nine-year-old girl on Willows Lane in Bolton.

“A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted child abduction and has been bailed until June 25 pending further inquiries. Inquiries are ongoing.”

Man arrested after attempted kidnap of girl, 9, 'eliminated from inquiries'

The attempted kidnap is the second to have occurred within the space of five days, after a 10-year-old boy was forced to fight off a man who tried to grab him on his way to school, on June 14, in Red Lane, in Breightmet.

No arrests have been made and police have not at this stage linked the attacks.